


Something To Talk About

by FictionalMindFrame



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, Friends to Lovers i guess, PR stunt, fake dating au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:27:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 33,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29045343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionalMindFrame/pseuds/FictionalMindFrame
Summary: Scylla and Raelle have had an unconventional friendship since they met, and when Raelle needs to pick a fake girlfriend to appease her publicist, things get weirder.
Relationships: Abigail Bellweather & Raelle Collar & Tally Craven, Porter & Scylla Ramshorn, Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 241
Kudos: 406





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know if I like this anymore, but I've written 10k words and I'm too stubborn to abandon it now.

Scylla hated these parties. Other than Porter constantly reminding her that it was important not to be seen as a hermit, there was only one reason she still bothered to come. Honestly, Scylla couldn’t care less what the public thought about her, but apparently all the big wigs in the industry didn’t like it when their lead wasn’t drumming up interest. Leaning back against the bar, Scylla scanned the room for the one thing that kept these parties interesting, but just as had been the case every time she’d already checked, she wasn’t successful in her search.

Putting her disappointment on the back burner, she turned and gestured for a refill of her wine glass. She’d already been here for an hour, she could wait out another forty-five minutes and then sneak out and be in her PJs within the hour. She glanced back behind her again, grimacing at the mass of drunk people dancing and still not finding what she was looking for. When she turned back to her glass, which somehow she’d already drank half of, a hand settled on her shoulder.

Even if she’d been interacting with whatever idiot had decided to touch her, she notoriously despised being touched by almost everyone. She’d grown up in this stupid industry, she’d been grabbed and prodded far too much for her liking. Ignoring Porter’s voice in her head urging her to stay calm, she spun around to give a piece of her mind to whoever had decided to piss her off tonight, “Listen ass-“

“Hey stranger.”

Scylla felt her anger dissipate as her eyes fell on the blonde hair she’d been searching for. “Shit.” Offering an apologetic smile, Scylla raised her voice over the music, “Sorry I nearly flipped out there.”

Raelle shrugged and replied, “Sorry about the shoulder tap. I called twice, but you were pretty caught up in your head.”

“Forget about it. Now that you’ve finally made an appearance, does the lovely lady want her usual?”

The smile on the blonde's face lacked its usual spark, but Scylla was too polite to question it. Whatever was on Raelle's mind would likely come up soon regardless of whether or not she asked.

"Sounds good. I spotted a quiet corner over that way, you good with the drinks if I go grab it?"

"Sure, I'll be over in a minute."

It was a strange set-up. The pair had met three years ago, at another flashy party similar to this one, both dateless (but not single) and bored out of their minds. They'd been forced there by managers and PR people with a lecture about  _ networking _ and  _ staying relevant _ . 

Scylla had been smashed by the time Raelle stumbled across her, equally inebriated and in no state to judge the brunette. They'd quickly bonded over their shared disdain for their forced socialising and love for poking fun at everyone there who enjoyed it. Maybe that was childish, but they had to find their kicks somewhere.

By the end of that first night, Scylla had thought it would be a one night friendship, but the next boring industry party she ended up at also featured the blonde. By the end of  _ that _ night, they'd gotten drunk enough to make stan accounts for each other on twitter, which they still had and continued to whip out during their drunken shenanigans. 

It was fun. It was easy. It was sometimes all too deep. Which is maybe why they'd never hung out outside of these drunken nights at glamorous parties. They came, they found each other, they got drunk, and then they went home and didn't see each other again until the next time. Occasionally, one would message the other about some inside joke, or a congratulations, but that was that.

When the bartender sat three gin martinis down on the tray next to the two pints of cider, Scylla's eyes trailed over to the direction Raelle had gone, hoping she hadn't lost track of the singer in the crowd. Spotting her target, she grabbed the tray and made her way over. They’d learned, after a lot of experimenting, the right amounts of alcohol to keep them both on the same level of drunk. It hadn't taken long to realise that Raelle got drunk a lot faster than the brunette, and in the spirit of not making Raelle paranoid the morning after, they'd chosen to counteract that with making Scylla drink faster.

Scylla sat the tray down on the low table in front of Raelle, "Have you had anything already?"

"Had a shot before I left the house. You?" That explained the loose way that Raelle held herself. The woman was always tense when she arrived sober, still her usual goofy self, but more controlled than when she'd had a drink.

"Three glasses of wine." Picking up her first martini, the brunette didn't stop, "Why were you so late?"

"I almost didn't come. Tally's been up my ass about making me look like less of a mopey singleton." Raelle's tone did nothing to disprove Tally's point.

"But you are a mopey singleton."

"Thanks." Raelle scoffed and reached one arm up to rub her neck, causing her blazer to shift up and crinkle in a way that pulled Scylla's eyes lower over bare skin, low enough that she almost missed it when the blonde resumed her rant.

"She's talking all this crap about me being sad being bad for my  _ 'brand',  _ whatever that means." She went to take a sip of the pint in her hand, but stopped in favour of ranting some more, "Can you believe that she brought me a file of women to pick a  _ fake  _ girlfriend from? Like, leave me in peace."

Raelle clearly expected Scylla to jump on the bash the PR train, but Scylla countered nervously, "It has been over a year Raelle. Maybe a PR stunt's the wrong way to go but… She's not wrong about the mopey thing. When was the last time you went on a date?"

"When was the last time  _ you  _ went on a date?" The blonde's voice was sharp, but her bravado faded after a moment, "Sorry, it's just… Why is everyone so adamant I force myself to get over her, you know? Two years was a long time, and yeah I should get over it, but I'm not doing that just so people I don't even know stop thinking I'm pining. Also," Raelle pointed at one of the glasses in the table, "You need to finish that martini, or I'll pull ahead." 

Rolling her eyes, Scylla picked up one of her glasses and downed it, "Tally cares about you. This could be her way of trying to help you out of the Lucy slump. And if it's any consolation, Porter is trying to get me to make an Instagram again."

Scylla was glad that it at least got a smile from the blonde, even if it was tighter than she'd have liked.

"Gotta give it to him, he sure is persistent." 

"Yeah, but he's fighting a losing battle. I've caved on the vogue interview though."

"How'd that happen?"

"Producer on the new movie threatened to sue under my marketing clause. It was that or let the paps catch me doing something interesting."

Raelle pulled a face at the insinuation.

"No! Shit. Not like that. Honestly they probably would've taken anything, but I didn't want a bunch of headlines about what brand of shoes I wear to the gym and how that means I have commitment issues… At least with vogue I have some control over what they’ll ask."

"You do have commitment issues. Still sucks though." Raelle just about dodged the hand that was jokingly flung at her shoulder when Scylla huffed.

"Yeah it does. But it sucks more for you that it's your round."

Raelle grumbled about having to go back into the crowd, but got to her feet anyway.

* * *

An hour later, both women were sloshed. Scylla's usually perfect red lip had gotten slightly less perfect from all the times she'd had to reapply it, Raelle's eyes were starting to smudge and their laughter was shifting closer and closer to drunken nonsense. 

When Raelle lowered her glass back to the table, Scylla was staring at her with a peculiar look on her face. Contemplative. Filled with too many thoughts for someone so inebriated. 

"What if  _ I  _ do it."

"Do what?" The more she drank, the stronger Raelle's accent got, despite the years she'd spent trying to get rid of it, but she was too drunk to care at the time.

"Pretend to be your girlfriend." 

Raelle froze, and Scylla almost took the words back in fear of having crossed a line.

"You'd do that?"

Scylla shrugged, "Why not? It'll get Porter off my back, and Tally will lay off you. Two birds, one stone." The Ls got muddled up near the end, but not so much that it was time to call it a night. 

"How would that work though? Like how do you even do a fake relationship?"

"It'll be easy. We just have to get caught out together by paps, and they'll make their own conclusions."

"True." Raelle finished the end of her pint and lifted her finger to point at the brunette, "But you've never done the whole public coming out thing, they might just gal pal us."

"So we kiss. It's more than they've seen me do with anyone else off-screen, it should be enough to convince them."

"An hour ago you nearly snapped my head off for tapping your shoulder."

If they were sober, the deadpan look Scylla shot her way might have made her feel like an idiot. As it was, she was just confused.

"I’ve apologised for that! And we’ve been doing this for three years, Raelle. You're not some rando on the street who thinks they're entitled to touch me."

Scylla could see that the singer was still hesitant, "You're sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

Despite the warmth the blonde's concern made her feel, this was getting ridiculous, and Scylla considered herself a relatively patient person, "I don't know how your brain works, but kissing a beautiful woman, who I've  _ told  _ to kiss me, isn't something that usually makes me uncomfortable. Well," Scylla tilted her head, "Unless she's being a tease, but that's an entirely different and welcome discomfort."

"So like, 100%, this isn't going to make things weird?"

Tired of placating the blonde's worries, Scylla put her glass on the table with purpose and slid right into the woman's space. Cupping Raelle's cheek, the brunette moved forward until she was close enough to lean their foreheads together and asked, "Is it weird yet?" 

"No." And it wasn't. 

"Then can I kiss you?"

Friends kissed all the time right? "Makes sense to practise." Scylla paused at the nervousness she wasn't sure she'd heard, but decided things were fine when Raelle's eyes showed none of it.

And suddenly both women were very happy that they spent all night hiding in the privacy of dimly lit corners at these parties. Raelle's hand moved to Scylla's chin as their lips grazed tentatively. It was quick, barely a peck, and then Scylla pulled back just enough to whisper, "Weird yet?"

"No." 

Scylla returned her lips to the blonde's, more demanding than the first time, but Raelle didn't seem to mind. Scylla felt the hand at her chin slide down to cradle her neck and shivered at the gentle trace of the cold hands against her skin. When Raelle's tongue asked for entrance though, she pulled back again, mouth just out of reach.

"Weird yet?"

"No."

Pushing the singer's far shoulder until her back was flat against the couch again, Scylla shifted her weight and threw her leg over Raelle's lap. It probably said something about her that she liked the way the blonde squirmed at her teasing, but she could live with that. Could pin it on her own loneliness. Raelle might have had a point about the dating thing. 

"And what about now? Is it weird?" 

She'd enjoyed the squirming, but the gulp she heard as she breathed the words into Raelle's ear made her blood sing.

"No." 

"Good."

This time, when Raelle's tongue traced her lips, Scylla gladly complied. It was almost enough to block out the noise of the crowd, but Scylla was still overly aware that something was missing. Raelle's hand hadn't left it's place on her neck throughout Scylla's rearranging, but her other hand now hovered in the air, unsure where to rest. Without pausing, she grabbed the lost hand in her own and laid it on her hip, before resettling her own hand back in the short blonde locks. 

Eventually, Scylla pulled back enough to give Raelle space to breath.

If how her words came out was any indication, she could use some breathing room herself, "Pretty sure we'll be fine on the touching front. Anything else you're worried about?"

The blonde just shook her head, and then Scylla realised she was still straddling the women and lifted herself over to her original seat next to her. 

Raelle tucked her hair back into place behind her ears and then turned to Scylla, eyes slightly dazed from the alcohol, "One last round?" 

The brunette nodded and reached her thumb up in lieu of answering, wiping away the remnants of red on Raelle's mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

Raelle groaned at the obnoxious noise coming from her left and shoved her head further into the pillow. Her head was plagued by a pounding completely separate from the ringing, and her stomach made it very clear that if she moved she would be sick. This was all Tally's fault. Her and Scylla didn't usually drink quite this much, unless one of them arrived in an even worse mood than normal, so one last round had not in fact ended up being one last round.

Scylla.

Her eyes opened, and she sat up far too quickly even for someone without a blinding hangover.

She'd kissed Scylla.

Fake girlfriend. 

Fuck. Was that a drunken offer that would be politely rescinded this morning and leave things weird, or was Scylla Ramshorn actually going to pretend to date her? 

Would that fucking ringing  _ ever  _ stop?

Rubbing her eyes with her hand, Raelle picked up the phone that hadn't made the distance from her bed to the nightstand the previous night. 

147 messages. 34 missed calls, half from tally, 12 from Abigail, 3 from Byron and 2 from her pops. And of course, the current incoming call that was also from Tally. 

What the hell had happened? 

Realising that if she didn't answer now then Tally and Abigail would just land on her doorstep, Raelle took a deep inhale and answered.

Tally started speaking before she even got the chance to say hello.

"Finally! Me and Abi are on our way over. This isn't really what I meant when I said you needed to stop moping Raelle!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Tal?"

"Are you kidding me, Rae? I'm talking about you making out with Scylla Ramshorn and getting caught on video! It's all over the internet!" 

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck. This was so not the plan.

"Tal, I'll call you back."

She threw on some comfy clothes and then dialled Scylla's number while stumbling around her apartment in search of some aspirin. No answer. She called again. No answer. Third time's the charm, right?

"Why are you calling me at 8 in the morning?" Under any other circumstances, Raelle would've felt bad about waking the woman up, but she didn't really have many options.

"Someone got us on camera last night."

Silence.

"Well, that speeds things along." A sigh and some rustling echoed down the phone, "We should probably talk about this sober, is it okay if I come over?"

"Sure, I'll send the door code now. I'm really sorry about all this, I know how much you hate this crap." She turned the coffee machine on, knowing both of her friends would be kinder if she caffeinated them.

"Forget about it. I mean, it's not really when we planned it, but this was sort of the plan. Anyway, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Just as Scylla hung up, Raelle heard a set of keys turning in the front door. She'd been hoping Tally and Abigail would be a bit longer getting here, but apparently the world wasn't finished shitting on her today. She could use her friends right now, but the pair were definitely here on business, and Raelle wasn't sure that a fight wasn't about to break out. She debated hiding, but instead sucked it up and shouted, "I'm in the kitchen!" 

Her friends walked in and headed straight for the coffee, and the quiet that settled in the room as they pottered didn't reassure Raelke. Mugs full, they turned- creepily in unison- and waited for an explanation. When Raelle still hadn't started talking two minutes later, Abigail ran out of patience.

"Want to explain, Shitbird?"

At Abigail's directness, Tally jumped in, "Not that we're complaining! But you did say that you and Scylla just talked at those parties… I can't do my job properly if you don't tell me this stuff, Rae."

"Is she here?" 

"What? No-"

"Is this why you were so angry about the fake girlfriend thing? You should've just told me you were seeing somebody." Oh. They thought her and Scylla were together.

"I'm not see-" All three heads snapped to the door at the sound of knocking. Scylla was fast, but that wasn't unexpected under the circumstances. Abigail started to make her way over to it, but Raelle didn't want her answering it if it was Scylla.

Glancing back towards the kitchen, Raelle pulled the door ajar to check it wasn't someone else before opening it wide enough to grab the actress' wrist and drag her through both the front door and the door directly beside it that lead to Raelle's bedroom.

When she closed the door and turned around, the brunette was leaning against the wall, hand over her mouth and skin paler than usual. Scylla pushed her sunglasses up onto her head, revealing bloodshot eyes, "Too fast. If I puke, it's your fault."

"Pretty sure it's the gin's fault, but I'll take it."

"Want to tell me why you dragged me in here, or is that how you usually greet guests?"

"Keep your voice down, Tally and Abigail are in the kitchen."

The brunette's eyebrows furrowed, "And?" 

"What if we didn't tell them?"

"Raelle, I'm too hungover for this, I need more context."

Confused and hungover wasn't a look many could pull off, and it infuriated Raelle that the brunette had managed it. Chancing her luck, she asked, "Are you still up for the whole fake girlfriend thing?"

"You know, I wasn't  _ that _ drunk last night. Isn't that the whole reason I came over?"

"Tally and Abigail's saw the video and assumed it was real." Raelle bounced her leg as a distraction, "What if we didn't tell them."

Scylla blinked a few times before replying, "You want to start a PR relationship without telling your publicist or your manager? That's a lot harder to fake Raelle. Those people are your friends, they'll expect us to act like an actual couple. And Porter already knows, he drove me over here." 

Of course she'd told Porter already. Raelle held back the urge to roll her eyes, "Will Potter keep it to himself if you ask him to?"

"Yeah. But I think you're underestimating how hard it'll be to convince your friends this is real."

"We'll figure it out. Please. Look, you were right about Tally. She's worried about me, not my image. And Abigail might actually kill me if I turn down any more of her set-ups. Please, Scylla, just until they're not as worried."

Raelle thought she was going to say no with how long the brunette waited before answering her, but instead she sighed and said, "Yeah. I mean, we're going to have to sit down and do a bit of prep work, but I'm in."

"Really? I could kiss you right now!"

"Save that for the audience." Scylla nodded to the door, "We should probably go face your friends."

"Do we have to?"

Scylla smiled at the petulance of the questions, "If we start making sex noises, will they leave us alone?"

"Nah, they'll stand at the door and make lewd comments."

"Then we should probably stop hiding."

Raelle pouted at the words, but reached for the door with one hand and Scylla with the other. 

When the brunette took the outstretched hand, Raelle walked out of the room and turned to see her friends whispering conspiratorially in the kitchen doorway.

"Tally, Abigail, this is Scylla."

Abigail wore a stoic expression, "So this is the famous hermit."

"And this is the control freak manager." Well, that was probably the best she could've hoped for from Scylla.

Tally 's grin grew at the words and Abigail's resulting shock. Raelle understood Tally's struggle, she was holding back her own laughter, but she needed to get out of here before her friends realised something was amiss.

"We were gonna go grab breakfast, do you guys mind if we raincheck the team meeting?"

"We-" Scylla cut herself off at the blonde's pointed look, "Oh, yeah. Breakfast."

Raelle didn't wait for an answer from her manager or her publicist, she was already pulling her keys off the kitchen counter.

Abigail looked like she was about to object, but Tally smiled and nodded, "Yeah, of course. You guys go have fun! It was really nice to meet you, Scylla."

"You too, sorry I'm stealing her away." The last words were thrown over Scylla's shoulders, the blonde already pulling her towards the front door.

"Lock up when you guys leave."

* * *

"Even I know that that was rude."

Raelle shrugged from the driver's seat, "Tally's like an excitable child. If we hadn't escaped, we could've been in that kitchen for hours. And she definitely would've caught us out."

"You could've just told them the truth."

"Tally looked so excited when you knocked on the door, it would've been like kicking a puppy. Also, I'm driving aimlessly here, any brunch preferences?"

"Anywhere with grease. If you take me somewhere that only serves healthy crap, I'll call Tally and tell her this is fake before you've finished parking."

"No complaints there." Raelle realised that this was the first time they'd ever been alone and sober together, and suddenly felt shy. Swallowing that, she reminded herself of all the embarrassing stuff Scylla had told her in the past three years in an effort to calm down.

"So, what did Porter say?" Nonchalant.  _ See Collar everything's fine _ .

"He's over the moon about it. Wants to know how you got me to suffer some publicity when he's been trying for eight years."

Raelle noticed her fingers drumming against the steering wheel and forced them still, "And he doesn't have any issues seeing his ex all over the internet in someone else's lap?"

Raelle risked letting her eyes skim over to the brunette as they idled in traffic - stupid LA- and met curious blue orbs. Scylla's face was all scrunched up, as though she didn't understand what she was being asked.

"Why would he? We ended things on good terms, you know that. And it's been two years, sometimes we forget it even happened."

The blonde didn't need to look in the mirror to know that she was pouting, "Think you could teach me that skill? I  _ wish _ I could forget you-know-who."

"You're cute when you're grumpy."

The conversation petered out, Raelle didn't know how to respond and decided she didn't have to, and the constant hum of the radio filled the space the women didn't bother to.

* * *

They ended up at a window seat, far enough from the tables around them that they could talk without being overheard. As soon as their waiter walked away with their orders, both containing plenty of grease to cure their hangovers, Scylla pulled out the same notepad she'd been scribbling in on the car ride here, "So, how long are we saying this has been going on for?"

"Like 2 months? They'll believe I would hide it from them for that long. Helps that you're a recluse." Raelle chuckled at the glare the comment earned her, "Any ideas for how we got together?"

"We might as well keep things as close to the truth as possible. How about we just say that we kissed at an after party and then realised we wanted to be more than drinking buddies?"

"Who kissed who?"

"Does it matter?"

"Tally will ask, trust me."

"I kissed you. We went out a few times, two weeks later you asked me to be your girlfriend."

Raelle nodded along as the brunette spoke, "Okay, so what's next in that list if yours?"

"Is there anywhere you're not comfortable being touched?"

"Not that I can think of, you?"

"No, I'm all good." Scylla glanced back down, at her writing, "Is there anyone else you want to tell?"

"Tell the truth?" 

Scylla nodded.

"No, my parents won't be in LA anytime soon so I'll just give them the same spiel I give Tally and Abi. By the time I see them they'll have forgotten about it. Byron will be a pain either way so lying to him might just be easier. And besides, I don't know that he wouldn't accidently tell Tally or Abigail. Anyone you want to tell?"

"I don't think so, it's probably best we tell as few people as possible. Anacostia will probably ask to meet you though, is that okay?"

"Sure. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Raelle went to open her mouth again, but the brunette placed her hand on Raelle's and met her gaze, shaking her head. Following her eyes when they moved away again, Raelle saw their waiter on his way with their order and intertwined their fingers.

When their waiter left again they let their hands separate in favour of starting to eat. Scylla began talking again as soon as she'd finished her first bite, "Is there anything else I should know?"

Raelle nearly answered without swallowing her food, before remembering who she was with and waiting to finish.

"Like what?"

"Stuff that your friends will expect me to know. Weirdly specific things you despise, allergies, weird sex stuff. Literally anything."

"Weird sex stuff? How close do you think me and Abi are?"

Scylla shot her a doubting look, "Are you telling me you're the only person on earth with friends who won't ask about your sex life?"

"No, they'll ask. But there's no weird sex stuff. I think. As for the other stuff, I have a birthmark like an inch from my vagina and I despise broccoli."

"You're a five year old. And I already knew both of those things." 

"See. This'll be easy. I mean, think of all the weird stuff I've accidentally told you in the past three years. It'll be a piece of cake."

"I'm not so sure, but you do have a point. What about the PR side of things? How often do we need to be seen together?"

"I dunno, like once a week? You're you, if you start getting papped everynight people will call bullshit."

"True." The brunette chugged her milkshake before adding, "Want to come to the premiere next week? It'll be boring, but there'll be free booze at the after-party. And food. And it'll spare me suffering it alone."

"Won't Porter be there?"

"Yeah, but he'll be mingling, and he'll want me to mingle, and I think we both know how I feel about that."

Raelle didn't want to say no, but if she had, the puppy dog eyes Scylla sent her way would've made her agree anyway. 

"Sure. What are you wearing?"

"I'll send you everything later." 

Scylla got quiet then, focused on her food, but Raelle could tell she was waiting to say something more, and when the actress bit her lip in what was clearly nervousness, the blonde decided to push.

"What's wrong?"

"How often do you see Abigail and Tally?"

"Most days. They have this irritating habit of barging into my apartment. Why?"

"Are they going to ask questions if I'm never around?"

"Honest answer?"

A nod.

"Probably. I can be pretty single-minded when I'm in a relationship."

"I remember." Raelle couldn't tell if the words were barbed or not, so she ignored them and kept talking.

"We do movie nights every Friday, you could come? If you get there before them it'll stave off their curiosity. No pressure though."

"No, that's a good idea. Let me know what time and I'll be there."

"One other thing. I know you hate it, but how do we feel about you being on my socials?"

"Do I have to?"

"No, course not. But people already know, and the whole point of this is to be seen."

"I guess. But I get veto power on anything you want to post."

"That's fair-"

Scylla cut her off with a charming smile that she'd seen her use both on screen and off, but never directed at her, "That girl in the corner is recording us." Raelle went to turn but was stopped by Scylla rejoining their hands, "Don't look. Just smile."

"Now I don't know what to say."

"Keep saying what you were about to, just make it look like you don't want to puke." 

"Oh. I was gonna ask where we stood on PDA."

"Depends on the situation. I mean, I'm fine with whatever you think we need to convince your friends, but we already said that people will get suspicious if I suddenly don't care what paps see."

"Cool. So tone it down in public. Do we even have to kiss again if they have the video of last night?" Raelle wasn't lying when she'd said things weren't weird the night before, but prior to it, she hadn't so much as kissed anyone since the break-up. It was probably a culmination of how touch-starved she was and the fact that Scylla was ridiculously beautiful, but she'd liked it a little more than she should have liked kissing a friend. It wasn't like she was worried about things spiralling, but she was a little concerned about blurring any lines in their friendship. Scylla knew more about her than most people did, and it felt good to be able to talk about herself without worrying there were ulterior motives or that her secrets would be shared. 

"Probably not."

The phone was put away and the pair were able to enjoy the rest of their breakfast, hangovers slowly fading to a small irritation. Their hands didn't disconnect until they reached the car again, and Raelle grew used to the warmth of Scylla's in hers, a sensation she'd found strange at first. When she dropped the actress back at her own apartment, she felt better about the entire scenario. It would work. Tally and Abigail would stop fretting over her. The media would eat it up. And a small vindictive part of her relished in sending Lucy - who had never trusted her around Scylla, despite the fact that she was the one who cheated- an overdue fuck you. 

Before any of this worked though, she needed to survive the interrogation that had been put on pause some hours previous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plan is a bit more solid for this now, so I'm feeling a lot better about it. I'll probably upload like three times a week, but I'm really busy at the minute so I can't guarantee anything


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't meant to be posted until tomorrow but my brain's been a pain all day and I ignored all my responsibilities in favour of working on this.

"Honey, I'm home!"

"We're watching one of your girlfriend's movies! Bring snacks or you're not invited."

"I own that couch, and I can take my keys back anytime."

She wouldn't, and they knew it. They'd been her support system the entire time she'd been living in LA, and she loved them more than anything. Raelle, despite her threat, brought them snacks from the stash she kept of all their favourites for movie nights and flopped in the middle of the two. The movie had been paused, so she assumed it was time to commence the interrogation.

As soon as her butt hit the cushion though, there were a series of heavy knocks at her door, followed by shouts, "Raelle Collar, open this door immediately."

Byron.

She hadn't called him back this morning. 

Hadn't called her parents either. She really hoped her pops hadn't seen that video.

She groaned, much to the amusement of her friends, and dragged her body back to the door to be greeted by Byron, who was pushing his way into her apartment before she finished pulling it open.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me! I mean, you've been making out with the woman responsible for your sexual awakening, and you withheld that information. In fact, I specifically asked you if you were still into her when you met her, and you told me, right to my face, that you were over it!"

She rolled her eyes and cringed at the thought of Abigail listening from the couch. She'd never hear the end of it. "That's a stretch. I was 12."

"It counts."

"Are you done yet?"

"I think so."

"Well then come join the rest of the interrogation team, they're waiting to attack me as well."

When she fell back into her spot, Tally wasted no time in excitedly picking up where she'd left off, "So, tell me everything!"

"There's not much to tell. We kissed a few months ago, and then it just kinda happened." Raelle stated at the ceiling as she spoke, trying to look like she was avoiding the conversation when in reality she was avoiding making eye contact with the three people in the room.

"Why didn't you tell us, Shitbird? It's pretty relevant information."

"Didn't want to jinx it. And you were being so annoying."

"Does she know you had an embarrassing teenage crush on her?" Well, there went any hope of Abigail not finding out about that.

"God, no. And she's not going to." Honestly, Raelle was impressed that she'd never drunkenly blurted it out. It was one of the few secrets she didn't want Scylla to know, too embarrassed at the previous infatuation. 

"I think it's cute."

"Thanks, Tal, but I don't really want to scare her off this soon."

"You've been friends for 3 years, if you haven't scared her off already, you probably can't." 

Tally admonished Abigail and Byron high-fived her, but Raelle was stuck on the tone Abi had used. She didn't like Scylla. Well, maybe she didn't dislike the woman but she definitely didn't approve of Scylla. It didn't matter, Raelle was too tired to have an argument about a fake girlfriend, so she ignored it.

"I didn't even know she was into women." 

This time, she scoffed at Abi's comment, "The internet sure knew, but like, she never did the whole public coming out thing and she's so private that no one knows about her dating life. How would you have known?"

"Is she mad about the video?" Byron sounded worried, and Raelle was reminded just how good her friends were. He'd been playing bass for her for 4 years, and they'd bonded quickly. She paused for a moment, feeling guilty for lying to people who cared about her for the first time since her and Scylla had planned this.

"She's mad that she wasn't more careful, but people would've found out eventually."

"Still sucks. Shitty way to be outed." Raelle hadn't even thought about that, and now her existing guilt was growing. She'd call Scylla later and check-in, for now she needed to put an end to the conversation as soon as possible.

* * *

By the time Friday arrived, the novelty had worn off and Raelle had assured Scylla that her friends had backed off with their questions. The tabloids, however, were still abuzz with the excitement of finally getting gossip on Scylla Ramshorn. They'd been trying her entire life. She was renowned, her whole family were. Two co-stars, both beloved actors in their own right, falling in love and having the fairy tale ending, only to have it cut short when some crazy pap who wouldn't stop stalking them caused a car crash. Scylla had been 16 when it happened, on the other side of the world in a Swedish boarding school that the family hoped would keep her out of the limelight. 

She'd flown back to an empty home, buried her parents, and her reclusive lifestyle was born. Her parents' closest friend, another actress called Anacostia Quartermaine, became her guardian, and in retrospect she put up with more of Scylla's crap than Scylla thought reasonable. After receiving private tuition for the remainder of the school year, Scylla had gone back to Sweden the following year and completed her studies, before returning to LA and starting to act again.

Everything had escalated so fast with their charade that neither woman had had time to guess what would happen, but Scylla's name was popping up all week, with countless articles making guesses about her sexuality, her dating history, whether she and Raelle were casual or actually together, the list went on. Some of them had the audacity to bring her parents up, asking what they would think about the situation if they were still alive. Not that they were anyway right, Scylla's parents had known she was bi from Scylla was 14, and only ever loved her more for it. 

Despite all the extra attention, Scylla wasn't as anxious as she'd expected to be, and to her surprise it helped that Raelle had been texting constantly to check-in, despite Scylla usually hating being worried over. She'd called in a tizzy on Sunday night, all apologetic about not considering the fact that Scylla had been outed, and the sweetness of it had reassured the brunette that she'd done the right thing. Scylla didn't have many friends, what with her hermit ways, and other than Anacostia and Porter -who she'd known since childhood - Raelle was probably the person she trusted most in the world.

Checking the time, Scylla cursed herself for zoning out; Raelle was meant to be picking her up in 5 minutes. She ran a brush through her hair and glanced in the mirror, not wanting to look like a total slob in front of the people she was supposed to be impressing. It was strange, even though this wasn't real, she really wanted Raelle's friends to like her. They were important to Raelle, and Raelle was important to her, and from what she'd gathered at their first meeting, Abigail was going to be difficult to win over.

There was a knock at the door, making it the first time in the singer's life that she'd ever been early for anything. Giving herself a last once over in the full length mirror beside the front door, Scylla decided it would have to do. It was a movie night, she doubted anyone would be in anything other than sweatpants, there was no point getting paranoid about the dress code. 

She relaxed when she opened the door and met an equally comfortable Raelle, the blonde smiling as she looked up, "You ready?"

"Yeah, anything I need to take with me?"

"Just yourself." It was infuriating how easy it was to be drawn in by Raelle, with that goofy grin and her open energy. Scylla didn't think she could trust anyone who was immune to Raelle's charms, and sometimes Scylla wasn't even sure the woman knew she was doing it.

The trip to Raelle's apartment was a quick one, filled with radio and meaningless conversation. Like they'd planned, they arrived half an hour before Tally and Abigail were due, and Raelle immediately set to work making tea and pulling treats from cupboards. It felt a tad awkward, lingering in the unfamiliar kitchen, watching the blonde work, but Scylla supposed that that was the whole reason she'd come over early. She needed to make everyone believe she'd spent time here, that she was comfortable in the cosy apartment. 

"You want tea, yeah? Or there's hot chocolate, if you'd prefer that."

"Tea's good. Need any help?" Tea sounded perfect, and it just might calm her jitters.

Raelle's home was small, but it suited her, especially as Scylla watched her flit about her kitchen with an air that was far less tense than she'd ever seen her. It was a drawback of their friendship- being each others buffer at awkward parties meant they were never comfortable enough to fully let their guard down until both were too drunk to remember having done it, most recent escapades notwithstanding.

"You wanna make the tea and I'll sort the snacks?"

"Sure." 

Making a funny face at the three colourful bowls on the counter, Raelle sheepishly asked, "You okay with sharing?"

"As long as you eat all the liquorice." The words came with a smile. Scylla might be a bit of a recluse, but she'd always been forward, and Raelle's shyness sometimes still caught her off guard, endearing as it was.

They worked quietly, Scylla filling both mugs and Raelle sorting candy and chocolate into separate bowls, which were apparently colour coded to each of the girls. It didn't take long, and with no more prep to do, they moved to the couch. Raelle's living room had a three seater and a two seater, and there was no universe where Abigail was going to let the 'couple' hog the bigger couch while she sat squished with Tally on the two seater. Scylla followed Raelle as she flung herself on the smaller sofa and pulled both her legs up underneath herself.

"So, cuddling. How do we feel about that?" It was clear that Raelle had sat on that for a while, probably since picking the brunette up, but wasn't sure how to bring it up. Scylla couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips at the awkward phrasing and the nervous energy radiating from the woman.

"I mean, I'm not a fan, but I think it's probably going to look strange if we don't." Tilting her head, Scylla added, "Why are  _ you _ nervous? These people already like you, I'm the one who has to impress them."

"Wait, are  _ you  _ nervous? You know you don't actually have to impress them, right? Like, I've dated plenty of people they didn't approve of, you wouldn't be the first," Raelle took a sip from her mug, "And I  _ am _ nervous, because Tally is weirdly observant."

"Observant enough to realise we're faking?"

"Yeah. No. Maybe? I guess we'll see."

"And the whole point of not telling them this is fake is so that they stop worrying, so it's kind of important that they approve, Raelle. Plus, they're your friends, it would be nice if they didn't hate me.'

"I don't think Tally is capable of hating anyone."

"Well, Abigail sure makes up for it." Her first instinct when Abigail had called her a hermit was to poke back, not caring about the manager's opinion of her. It was only later, when Raelle had dropped her back home, that she'd realised she should probably try and play nice.

"She's just protective, I think she's worried I'll pack up and go home if I get my heart broken again."

"To be fair, you did threaten to do that last time."

Before Raelle had the chance to defend herself against the teasing, there was a rattling at the door. Scylla shoved Raelle's closest leg to fall over the sofa's edge and turned her own body over so she could rest her head on the blonde's lap, somehow having the coordination to link their hands in the same movement. Having only just recovered from the discombobulation as her friends emerged through the door, Raelle's face bore a forced smile, but thankfully Tally and Abigail were too focused on Scylla to notice.

Sometime during the flurry of greetings, Scylla saw Raelle relax a little, but she could still feel how tense the woman's thigh was underneath her. It wouldn't work. If either of the women currently under the impression that Raelle and Scylla were a couple realised how tense the singer was, it would be game over. 

Scylla watched Tally make herself comfortable while Abigail grabbed their drinks -following some bickering- and as everyone made small talk, she shifted on the two seater so that she sat leaning against Raelle's side. With a smile on her face, in a move she hoped looked like the anxiety of a new girlfriend being introduced, Scylla whispered in the blonde's ear, "You need to relax, or this will be over before it's even started."

"Oh sweet, peanut butter cups!" Tally's dedication to filling the silence in the room was admirable, and brought a genuine smile to the brunette's face. It did beg a question though.

"Did you buy peanut butter cups because of me?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Raelle mumbled shyly, "I buy everyone's favourite."

Maybe Scylla didn't have to be quite so worried about convincing Raelle's friends of anything, the woman was innately thoughtful enough that it was setting up to be an easy show. Raelle had relaxed a little since, and the actress decided it would have to do. Abigail knocked the lights off on her way back and started the movie, which was a fucking horror because they were evidently all crazy people. 

Scylla had not banked on this. She hated horror movies. Hated. Capital h, no tolerance, would never fucking sleep tonight,  _ hated.  _ She'd always been a little embarrassed by it, and it had never come up, so Raelle had no way of knowing. 

Now she was the tense one. Raelle's stress had passed as soon as the lights went out, but on top of being on edge about the movie, Scylla was getting anxious about how obvious her fright was. She knew her grip on Raelle's hand was getting tighter than necessary, and she'd seen the curious glances from the blonde.  _ Don't be a wimp, Scylla. _

Something jumped out of nowhere on screen and Scylla's face was buried in Raelle's neck before either woman processed what had happened. Fuck it, she'd just stay here. It was warm and there were no monsters and she could smell Raelle's shampoo. 

A hand came up to cradle her head, quiet murmuring tickling her ear, "Sorry. I should've checked that horror was okay, we can change movies if you want?" 

"No. No it's fine. I'll just hide in here for the rest of it."

"Are you sure? I really don't mind."

"Yeah no, it's fine. Just um… Keep doing that to my hair and maybe my heart will start beating like normal again."

Scylla felt more than heard the puff of laughter the request drew from the blonde, "Sounds fair, but uh, any chance we can lie down? My legs have been numb for like 10 minutes."

Already rearranging her bodyweight, Scylla admonished the woman, "Why didn't you say something?"

Raelle didn't reply until she was flat on her back, Scylla's arm over her waist and torso flush against her own, "Didn't wanna be a pain."

"Unlike me, who's currently hiding in your neck like a scared child." A position which afforded her the ability to feel just how tense the blonde had gotten again. Before she could ask what was wrong though, Abigail chose that moment to berate them, "Shut up over there."

Scylla might have been concerned about the words, if the woman under her hadn't grinned and raised a single finger to the Bellweather. They stopped their chatter all the same, but Raelle kept her word, leaving Scylla sufficiently distracted from the movie. 

She found she didn't mind the closeness, despite her usual misgivings about cuddling. Raelle ran colder than most, so for once Scylla didn't feel stifled under the heat of another human, and the gentle hand in her hair was soothing. 

They might actually pull this off


	4. Chapter 4

Raelle didn't think she could pull this off.

The guilt was back, and this time it was over something as dumb as cuddling. She hadn't even realised how much she'd missed the warmth of a body until the other night, and as much as she'd tried to ignore it, she'd been craving it ever since. She hadn't thought it through when she'd asked to lie down, and now she was cursing her past self, especially knowing how uncomfortable Scylla probably was; she'd heard the woman complain enough about people trying to cuddle with her after sex that she was all too aware how much the actor hated it. It was why she'd been so nervous to ask about it, afraid of pushing too far when Scylla was already doing her a favour.

She could make it through the movie, it'd be fine. It was nearly over now anyway. Glancing over at the other couch, Raelle tried to concentrate on how funny it was that Tally -who in the early days of the trio's friendship was almost as frightened of scary movies as Scylla was- had managed to fall asleep. Abigail clearly thought it was hilarious too, given the amount of popcorn she'd stuck in the red hair. 

When the movie ended and Tally hadn't woken up, things got less funny and more complicated.

"Tal's out for the count. Is it cool if we crash?" Normally, it'd be an easy yes, in fact it happened as often as it didn't. But Scylla was here, and Raelle couldn't figure out whether they would question Scylla going home instead of also crashing. Abigail picked up on the hesitancy and made the wrong assumption, "Don't worry, we'll politely ignore any noise we hear from your room."

Scylla pulled herself out from Raelle's neck and propped up on one arm. Somehow, despite being further away than she had been a moment ago, Scylla was everywhere, so Raelle kept her eyes firmly on Abigail.

The look on Scylla's face insinuated a lot, and Raelle's stomach dipped at seeing it, "As kind an offer as that is, there'll be no noise tonight. If I don't get a full 8 hours, there'll be hell to pay for the bags, and there's nothing worse than a makeup artist's wrath." 

At least Scylla didn't seem annoyed at the change in plan, but to be honest Raelle wasn't sure whether she was just acting or if she was actually unbothered. She’d met plenty of actors who were terrible liars despite their profession, Scylla wasn’t one of them. It made reading her difficult, it always had, but if Raelle couldn’t figure out what was fake and what wasn’t, then her friends definitely couldn’t.

"Perfect." Abigail took that as sufficient confirmation and headed for the bathroom, turning the lights on as she passed through the door and jolting Tally awake.

"Go back to sleep Tal, if she comes back and you're awake she'll fight you for the big couch." The redhead listened to her, stretching out and pulling the extra blanket over herself without bothering to reply.

Scylla stood and stretched out as well, "I'm gonna get some water, you want some?"

"Please. I'm gonna change into pyjamas, you want anything to change into?"

"Shorts would be good."

Scylla left the room first, and after Raelle finished switching everything off, Tally caught her wrist as she went to leave, "I really like her." 

The truth was they'd barely interacted, but Tally was a good judge of character, so Raelle wasn't surprised. She smiled and teased her friend before leaving for her bedroom, "Me too, Tal." 

Raelle had changed, found shorts for Scylla, ran around her room panic tidying and answered a call from her parents that she'd been avoiding all week, turns out her pops _had_ seen the video and she would in fact be dying from mortification in the near future. Scylla still hadn't come back from the kitchen. If she hadn't dragged the woman into this room a mere five days ago, she'd have thought the brunette was lost. 

She was spared from going on a search party when the door silently opened and a small body slipped through, eyes on the floor, "You decent? Sorry I didn't knock, I thought it'd look strange."

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. You get lost on your way to the kitchen?"

"Abigail ambushed me. Gave me a whole 'what are your intentions' and 'I know how to hide a body' spiel." Scylla handed one of the glasses to her and took a sip from the other. Her eyes looked tired, and she'd been half asleep by the end of the movie so even if Abigail and Tally hadn't decided to stay, Scylla probably wouldn't have made it home anyway.

Raelle wished she could be mad about Abi interrogating her 'girlfriend', but honestly it was one of the few ways the woman knew how to show she cared. 

"Did you survive the drill Sergeant okay? Or do I need to start looking for a new girlfriend?"

Scylla tried to laugh, but she didn't seem to have the energy left to commit to it, "Don't worry. I've been interrogated by much worse than Abigail. Namely, Anacostia. And besides, I think she's starting to warm up to me." The last sentence was said with a mixture of smugness and confusion, both of which were warranted in this case. Raelle hadn't been kidding when she said her friends hadn't approved of everyone she'd dated, the truth was that there hadn't been a single one Abigail _did_ approve of.

"Are those for me?" She gestured to the shorts Raelle had left on the bed. 

"Yeah," before Raelle could ask if Scylla wanted some privacy, the actress had already started changing. Raelle ducked her head, eyes focusing on the floor, and then turned completely to place her glass of water on the bedside table on the left of the bed.

Scylla looked over at her as the blonde climbed into bed, pausing her folding to smirk at Raelle, "No need to get all shy, Raelle, it's not like you haven't seen more of me than this." 

"Seeing you pretend to have sex for a movie isn't exactly the same as you changing in front of me, Scyl." Then, petulantly, she added, "And I'm not shy."

"Tell that to the flush on your cheeks." Scylla pulled the covers back on the other side of the bed, and Raelle's hands flew to her cheeks. Okay, so she was blushing, but in her defense, Abigail and Tally weren't the let's all strip in front of each other type of friends and she hadn't been expecting it. That's all.

"Sorry about all this by the way, I know you having to stay wasn't really in the plan.I feel like i’ve said that a lot already, and it hasn’t even been a week."

"I should get a raise, you know. It's _so_ draining having to spend time with you." 

This was the Scylla she was used to, teasing and sarcastic and unfazed. She'd been slightly off ever since the video leaked. Still somehow above it all, but letting the public see more of her had clearly affected her, even if the changes were subtle. Raelle was glad to see her a little more open again, especially since she'd been the cause of Scylla's stress, so she let the woman have the jest instead of firing back.

"How about-" Scylla's phone rang, interrupting the blonde. 

"Shit, I forgot to tell Porter I'm staying. He's probably wondering if I need to be picked up."

"You're 26 Scylla, it's probably time you got your license." 

Scylla answered the call and flipped Raelle off. Raelle didn't understand their relationship, no matter how many times it had been explained to her. She just didn't think she could ever have an ex be her best friend, and so she struggled to believe the pair were really just friends. 

They'd grown up together, Porter had been one of the few genuine friends Scylla had had as a kid, and when she started acting she'd insisted she wouldn't let anyone else manage her. It had stuck, and then when they were 22 they'd started dating. Honestly, when Raelle had met Scylla, she'd been worried Porter had isolated her on purpose, she'd even been nosy enough to look into it despite their unspoken agreement to never interact outside of drunken shenanigans. But Porter wasn't manipulating the actress. Scylla had isolated herself and Porter was constantly nagging her to let people in. 

They broke up after 10 months of dating, both deciding that they were better as friends. It was a seamless transition; they spent a month away from each other to get some space, only talking when work stuff came up, and then slipped right back into their friendship with no problems.

At least, that was the story. Raelle called bullshit. They lived in each other's pockets, and Raelle couldn't shake the feeling that they would eventually get back together, no matter how often she was told otherwise. 

The phone call was quick, and Raelle was still in her head about their weird friendship when Scylla tossed her phone aside. 

“You okay there, Raelle?”

“What? Oh, yeah, just tired.”

Scylla hummed, and turned over, "Night, Rae."

"Night."

* * *

Scylla woke up with no covers. Rolling over, she panicked for a moment at waking up in a bed that wasn't her own, before seeing familiar blonde hair spilling out of a massive bundle of blankets. She rolled her eyes at Raelle, fully intending to tease the woman about it later, and picked up her phone to check the time. 

0947\. It was no wonder she felt rested despite the blanket hog beside her, she'd surpassed her 8 hour goal. There was rattling coming from down the hall, it was probably the reason she'd woken, and Scylla didn't know whether to face the people in the kitchen or wait it out here.

She stared at Raelle, completely dead to the world and showing no signs of moving soon, and decided she'd face the music.

* * *

It turned out that she had nothing to worry about, Tally was excited to see her and Abigail was significantly less icy than she had been before. They'd mostly finished making a full breakfast when she'd arrived, and Scylla had been handed fresh coffee within two minutes of walking in. 

As dead as the blonde had seemed when Scylla left bed, the smell of the food had lured Raelle out of her room just as breakfast was ready, so the four all ate together. It was nice. Scylla hadn't had a group of friends since school, and even then they'd been shallow friendships. A means to survive until graduation. They still spoke sometimes, but the only time Scylla ate with more than two other people was for work.

The unit worked. They were close enough to make fun of each other but clearly cared enough not to push too far, and they communicated in their own language, built over six years of friendship. Abigail was still wary of her, but Scylla couldn't help but take it as a good sign when the trio started poking fun at her too.

And then she'd announced she had to head home before getting ready for the premiere later, and Tally had literally pouted. Like an adorable five year old. As she stood from the table, Raelle stood too, "What time are you heading to the hotel?"

"Like 1430? We have to be there for seven, and I don't want to risk getting stuck in traffic so we need to be ready to leave the hotel at like 1830." Raelle and Scylla might have been walking to the front door without Abigail and Tally, but Scylla could feel eyes on her. Glancing back, she saw Tally try to pretend she hadn't been staring.

"Cool if I don't come til 1530? I'm gonna rebraid my hair before I go, so I won't need long, but I can at least entertain you while they work on you?" They'd decided it'd be easier to get ready together so that they'd be able to match, but Raelle's prep time was mostly just for make-up and getting dressed, neither of which would take long given the minimal look she usually sported. Scylla, on the other hand, was the lead of the movie, so it was a go hard or go home situation. The end result would be fabulous, but it would be a long, tedious few hours and she was flattered that Raelle was offering to keep her company.

"Sounds good." Tally's eyes were still on them, so Scylla made eye contact with Raelle and started to lean in, hoping the blonde got the idea and wasn't about to freak out. 

Thankfully she did, meeting Scylla halfway and reaching for her chin. It was sweet. A chaste goodbye to please their audience. But Raelle didn't pull away immediately when their lips separated, instead she pulled the brunette into a hug she wasn't expecting and whispered into her ear, "Is this okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah it's fine, just wasn't expecting it." 

Raelle chuckled under her breath, "Straddles me in the middle of a club but gets caught off by a hug. You're so weird."

"So you think I'm weird?" If Raelle was going to tease her, Scylla would tease right back.

"Like, sexy weird? I like it..."

She just smiled and shook her head, then stepped out of the embrace and shouted over her shoulder as she opened the door, "Bye, eavesdroppers!"


	5. Chapter 5

Scylla was already bored and she'd only been in this damn chair for an hour. She'd double checked everyone's plans for her, suggested tweaking her hair slightly to match Raelle's, and her nails were just being finished as a knock sounded from the door. 

"That's probably Raelle." 

Porter, who had been in and out of the suite since they'd arrived going, over plans and making calls, stood from where he'd been sitting on his laptop and made for the door.

"Great, I'm going on a lunch run. Sushi? I can just get a bunch and we can all split it?"

"Sounds good. Thanks, Porter."

She shook out her nails, knowing it wouldn't do anything to dry the gel paint but doing it out of habit, as Raelle strolled in with two to-go cups in her grasp and passed one to Scylla.

"Vanilla iced latte. Figured you'd need it." 

It must've looked ridiculous, the way she was holding the cup between both palms, fingers stretched out so as to not marr the perfect blue coating, but Raelle barely smirked at her. 

"Thank you. No entourage?"

"Tally's gonna come just before we leave and hang around for the carpet, but that's it. Don't know how she managed to get Abigail to stay at home, maybe they think you'll get me to behave."

She couldn't help the laughter that escaped her, "They don't know me very well."

"Oh, I know. If anything, I'm gonna be on babysit Scylla duty."

"Porter will be so pleased to get the night off."

Raelle threw herself on the couch, it was the only way she ever took a seat, even in public, and Scylla was glad to have someone there to talk to her as they started working on her face. The after-party, which was the only part of the evening Scylla wasn't apprehensive about, seemed a long way away.

* * *

Raelle had seen Scylla dressed for all types of fancy events, but that didn't mean she ever really got used to seeing it. Scylla grew up in this world. Raelle hadn't. And it was never more glaringly obvious to the blonde than when she saw Scylla ready to walk a carpet. Dressed to the nines, looking like someone just off a runway, and completely and utterly comfortable in it all. The woman was almost aloof. 

Both of them hated these kinds of things, but Raelle hated them for an entirely different reason. She always felt like a sore thumb. She'd grown up on second hand clothes and hand me downs, and it felt like galaxies away from where she was now. No matter how well her records did, or how glamourous the parties got, Raelle could never get rid of the voice in her head saying that everyone knew she was a phony. 

Scylla on the other hand, hated them because she didn't like the spotlight, despite the fact that she'd chosen it, in a way. But even though she hated it, Scylla _fit._ She looked like she'd been born to walk red carpets and wave at adoring fans. Born to make people fall at her feet. And maybe she was.

The actress was no different tonight. Draped in sleeveless floor length blue tulle that matched her eyes, with beading that shimmered when it caught the light. Delicate braids loosely woven into her shoulder length hair to keep the front of the soft curls out of her face. A plunging neckline that contrasted the woman's pale skin in a way that was almost ethereal. It was hard to believe it was the same person Raelle had seen throw up in a trash can on the side of a road last year, but somehow even when doing that she'd seemed somehow _more._

"Ready to go?" 

The room had cleared, with stylists and makeup artists having finished up half an hour previous and Tally and Porter both outside by the door calling the car around. Scylla stared down at her, and Raelle found herself surprised at the reminder that she'd be shorter than the brunette for the evening, which had been normal for their entire friendship prior to last week but had in fact changed in all the time they'd spent together this week.

"As I'll ever be. How do these things work anyway?"

"Carpet -and I made sure we don't have to do interviews, just pictures - then some of the cast and the director and stuff will talk for a bit, and then we watch it. Which is the worst bit, I hate watching them the first time. And then we can go get drunk. I'll probably have to talk to some people right after the carpet so I don't look rude, but you can duck out and hide in the theatre if you want."

Raelle was nodding along as they walked through the halls of the hotel, "You nervous?" 

"Not really. Honestly, I'm more nervous about the carpet and the whole 'us' thing than any of the movie stuff."

The humid air hit the women as they exited the building, and Raelle wondered how the brunette wasn’t dying under all those layers of material.

"It'll be fine. I mean, if we're not doing interviews then the worst that can happen is someone shouting something when we walk."

Scylla didn't respond immediately, and her eyebrows furrowed as she climbed into the car, careful of not disrupting her dress.

"It's strange is all, I've never walked it with someone."

"What about Porter?" Raelle closed the door behind her - Porter and Tally were in the car behind - and allowed herself to relax at having no audience..

"Porter was always there as my PR person, he didn't really turn into my date until we got inside. Even then, it wasn’t really common knowledge that we were together."

"Well, it's better with someone else, trust me." Raelle tried not to think of Lucy. She failed. 

* * *

Raelle drummed her fingers on her trouser leg, waiting for Tally or Porter to open the door and the overwhelming experience to begin. Scylla reached over to her shoulder, calming her nerves a little, "It'll be quick, I promise."

Tally pulled the door open as Raelle smiled back at the actress, ushering them out and giving Raelle a thrice over. Raelle ignored the crowds in favour of turning back around to offer Scylla her hand and help her out of the car. Not that she needed it. Scylla could do everything elegantly, she certainly didn't need clumsy Raelle's assistance. Scylla took the hand with a soft upturn of her lips despite this.

She handed her bag to Porter and told him she'd see him inside while Tally let Raelle know she would be around but probably wouldn't have the chance to speak with her again before the redhead left. Good, it was easier lying to Tally when the woman was out of earshot.

They were herded along the carpet as usual, the only difference being their arms looped around each other's waists everytime they paused for photographs and the snarky comments passed back and forth the whole way. 

They were nearly finished, at their final stop before going inside, when Raelle heard someone from towards the right that she couldn't see shout, "Give us a kiss." 

She startled, but in the time it had taken her to come back to herself, Scylla had raised a single finger in his direction. Raelle couldn't laugh, Abigail would kill her for it, so she settled for grinning at the woman glued into her side. 

Unsurprisingly, they were ushered inside pretty quickly after that. Porter made a beeline straight to Scylla when they emerged inside the foyer. 

"Really Scylla, you couldn't have just ignored him?"

Smirking proudly, she answered, "No, I really couldn't have."

Raelle had avoided all the schmoozing Scylla had to do and hidden out in the theatre, although it didn't take long before Scylla also ducked out on it. When she did, Raelle held up her phone, "Thoughts on me posting this?"

It was a photo of them at the end of the carpet, Scylla's finger raised and Raelle smiling wholeheartedly, captioned 'Proud of you' . 

They looked good together, and it wasn't just their matching looks. They seemed comfortable next to each other, but that was to be expected with their familiarity. If Raelle didn't know it was fake, she'd believe it. 

"That was fast."

"Tally got it, she thinks it's hilarious. Is that a no?"

"No, you should post it. It's cute."

"It's you flipping off a pap?"

"Fine then, _you're_ cute. Post it."

So she did, and then Scylla had to leave again to join everyone else and introduce the movie. Then, she talked the whole way through it. Well, the whole way through might be an exaggeration, it was just all of her own parts, which was most of it.

It was unfortunate, because Raelle really enjoyed the parts she got to see. Byron might have made her tween crush a bigger deal than it was, but Raelle had in fact seen everything Scylla had been in, and almost every project was great. It was endearing though, how reluctant the woman was to watch herself. And it wasn't because she wasn't proud of her work, or that she was being humble, she just found the whole situation strange, seeing herself as a different person. 

* * *

The afterparty was where things started to feel a bit more relaxed. They'd done this a million times, and by this stage in the evening no one cared if Scylla was doing her job anymore. It was nice to be able to breathe; if people hated the movie, that was out of her hands now.

And it wasn't difficult to relax when Raelle's hand was guiding her over to a dim corner where they could hide away. It had been nice having the blonde at her side all day, and she'd been right when she said it was easier with someone else beside you. Not to mention how much of a relief it was to have someone there to distract her from her scenes during the screening. 

Scylla was just about to thank the singer again for agreeing to come when she felt the woman freeze. Stopping right behind her, Scylla followed her gaze across the room, shock filling her when she found it leading to Lucy.

She kept her voice low, right by Raelle’s ear, "We can leave. We've shown our faces, we don't have to stay."

Raelle turned them around so she was facing Scylla with Lucy still in her eye line over Scylla’s shoulder, anger clear all over her face, "No. Fuck that, this is _your_ movie premiere, I'm not leaving 'cause of her."

"Raelle, we really don't have to be here."

"I'm not letting her ruin tonight. You can pretend it doesn't matter, Scylla, but you're proud of this movie, and this is the only part of the day you were looking forward to. She doesn't get to win."

"Raelle, I was only looking forward to it because I could go hide in the corner with you. We can sit and drink literally anywhere, why not just go back to my place?"

"Are you su-" The blonde's face dropped, "Kiss me."

"What?" Scylla glanced quickly back at Lucy and found the woman staring in their direction. "Is this definitely how you want to deal with this, Raelle?"

"Please, Scyl."

So she did.

Raelle showed none of the hesitancy she had a week prior as she roped her arms around Scylla's waist and pulled them flush, one hand splaying against the bare skin exposed by the plunging back of Scylla's dress, the other secured just above her hip. Raelle was obviously eager to prove a point, and the actress was able to admit to herself that she'd like to send Lucy a fuck you as well, not that she'd ever admit it to the blonde currently wrapped around her.

A voice somewhere at the back of her mind reminded Scylla that they were on the edge of a dancefloor, likely under the gaze of more than one camera, and definitely far more exposed than Scylla would be comfortable with under any other circumstances. As though reading her thoughts, Raelle started moving them out of the crowd without pulling her mouth away, until Scylla's back met the wall and sent a shiver up her spine. Briefly opening her eyes, Scylla searched for the woman who'd unknowingly caused this show. If anything, Lucy was closer now.

Scylla had only had one glass of wine, not counting the glass of champagne they'd each had before leaving the hotel, but between that and Raelle, she was quickly becoming disoriented. Raelle pulled back ever so slightly, and Scylla prayed that she hadn't heard the whimper that fell from her lips over the music.

"Is this okay?" 

Refusing to let her body react to the blonde's words in her ear, Scylla replied with all the dignity she could manage, "Yeah."

"Tell me if that changes, yeah?"

Impatient, and afraid she'd expose just how okay she was with this, Scylla used the hand wound in blonde braids to pull their mouths back together. 

This was bad.

This was going to be a problem.

This was fucking fantastic.

She found it hard to feel guilty about enjoying Raelle's touch when her touch was so greedy. The irony wasn't lost on her, Scylla had always been the more forward of the two, yet here she was as meek as a lamb under Raelle's exploration. 

The hand Raelle had kept between Scylla's back and the wall began to wander down, settling on her ass as Raelle's mouth returned to her ear, "This still alright?"

_God yes._ Every cell in her body was burning up and she felt her hips push further back into Raelle's hand. Scylla opened her eyes again, trying to ground herself back in reality, and they landed directly on Lucy's. 

it felt like someone had dumped iced water all over her, the blatant reminder of why she was in the position she was. She could be anyone right now, it didn't matter who, as long as Raelle could rub it in her ex's face. Fuck this, she needed to get back some control before her body made her do something stupid.

Smirking and summoning all her bravado, Scylla pushed and pulled at Raelle until she'd swapped their positions, "I'd tell you if it wasn't." 

This was better, she could detach herself a little more if she felt in control of things. Still, despite wanting to ignore the pull in her gut, Scylla couldn't help the satisfaction that spiked through her at Raelle's moan when she nipped at the blonde's neck. 

_It's a show. It's a show. It's a show._

"Do you uh… wanna get out of here?" At least Raelle was breathing heavy too.

_More than you know._

Putting everything else out of her mind and ignoring the feel of Raelle against her, Scylla did her best to sound normal. Raelle was hurting, and despite how she'd felt a moment ago, Raelle was her friend. Raelle needed her support, not her inappropriate attraction.

_"_ Drinks at mine? You can rant all you want."

The blonde smiled as wide as she was probably able given the circumstances, "Sounds perfect."


	6. Chapter 6

Raelle was grateful that Scylla had been able to convince her not to drink herself dead the night before, or the interview she had over the phone this afternoon would suck even more. Tally had come over for interview prep and to sit with her while she was on the phone, and of course they'd gotten side tracked. Raelle was starting to think she'd prefer being hungover to this conversation.

Her firend was ranting about Gerit again. Raelle had been listening to this for months and honestly didn't understand how Tally had been worried about Raelle and not herself. They'd met four months ago, and Tally had been head over heels almost instantaneously, until Abigail did her usual protective friend background check and found out he was engaged. Then Tally had skipped right over hurt and gone to pissed off. Apparently him and Hilary had been on a break, trying to figure out if they actually wanted to get married or if they'd just gotten swept up in the high school sweetheart fairy tale. Now, things were messy, and all three of them were trying to work out how to go forward. It was dragging on so much that Raelle felt like the whole scenario was never going to end.

"Look Tal, I honestly think it might be time to just remove yourself from the situation. Like really, what's so special about this one guy?"

"I don't know Rae, I just like him." Tally shrugged, and then started again, realisation written in her features, "And do I have to remind you that until recently you were caught up in your head about a messy break-up and that _that_ didn't make Scylla just remove herself from the situation. So maybe you shouldn't jump on the 'get over it' train."

"That's different, I wasn't _engaged,_ Tal. And the way you say it makes it sound like Scylla spent the last three years pining away for me when we both know that's not the case."

"Isn't it? Didn't her and Porter break up like three weeks after you met? And really Raelle, you'd been walking around like a zombie for over a year until the two of you started dating."

Raelle wasn't comfortable with the insinuation, and as hard as she tried to stop it, she could hear her voice hardening, "I had nothing to do with them breaking up, Tal. And I think you're being dramatic." 

Picking up on her ire, Tally seemed to brighten up, "I mean, take it as a good thing. You seem really happy when she's around, Rae, it's nice seeing you like that again."

"Yeah well, she makes my head go quiet. I always thought it was just 'cause we were drunk every time we hung out, but evidently I was wrong." It was one of her favourite things about the brunette, how by some magic she made Raelle's brain's constant firing stall, let her take things in instead of flitting from thought to thought, emotion to emotion.

"And Lucy? That whole fiasco's definitely over now? Because you really scared us for a while there, Rae."

It wasn't, but at least she'd been distracted enough over the past week that she hadn't been able to fixate on her ex as much as usual. And she was trying, which was the best she could do.

"Yeah Tal, it's over," Raelle was wary of telling Tally the rest, but decided it couldn't do any harm, "She was there. Last night, I mean, at the after-party."

Tally had clearly placed her Gerit problem on the back burner, shifting ever so slightly closer to Realle, and trying to be her version of subtle as she probed, "And how was that?"

"Me and Scylla made out and then left. Which, yeah I know, not the mature way to deal with your cheating ex, but I wasn't up for dealing with it."

"Oh. So you didn't talk to her?"

Raelle scoffed, "I'd rather swallow a knife." 

"And Scylla didn't mind being used to piss off your ex-girlfriend?"

"She's never particularly liked Lucy."

"Fair enough. I still think you two should actually hash things out at some stage. Between you ignoring her and then her ignoring you, neither of you had any closure. No wonder it took you so long to get over it."

Raelle fiddled with a loose thread at the rip over her knee, "I started writing again. I mean, it's not happy, but it feels like closure, if that makes any sense?"

The redhead's face lit up, "That's great, Rae! Have you told Abi?"

She hadn't written since the week after the breakup. At the time, she'd been too drained from the entire fiasco, and after, she'd felt numb and aimless. She'd written more sad songs than she'd like in that one week, but there was no way she could put out an entire album of just heartbroken anger.

Abigail did her best to hide it, but she was worried. Raelle had been about to start writing for the new record just as she'd broken up with Lucy, and the lack of material was eventually going to be an issue. It was already an issue, but everyone was afraid that if they pushed her on it, she'd spiral.

"Not yet, I don't want to jinx it. Could you maybe not tell her?"

"Yeah, of course," The sneaky grin stretching across the redhead's face was worrying, "Are there any songs about a certain someone?"

"Tally."

"Raelle."

"We just started dating, give me some time before you plan the wedding."

"I'm just saying, usually by this stage _you're_ planning the wedding."

"I'm trying not to get ahead of myself, for once in my life. "

"Never thought I'd see the day. You two did look pretty cosy on Friday though, is she coming this week too?"

"She doesn't wanna intrude, so we thought she could maybe come every second week, if that's okay with you guys?"

"Sounds great! And we can veto horror next week, we probably shouldn't terrify her twice in a row or she might not come back."

Raelle was quiet for a bit, stewing over her decisions and the ever-growing guilt of tricking her friends.

“Hey, Tal, about the Gerit thing, I’m sorry I shut you down. If you still want him, then go for it.”

Tally smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, and then they went back to prep.

Despite Raelle's nerves, the interview started out fine, but the anticipation over the questions she knew were coming was killing her. Tally and her were both sitting cross-legged and sideways on the couch, facing each other, a mug of coffee in each of their grips.

She'd just raised her cup to her mouth, lukewarm caffeine on her tongue, when the interviewer finally got to the part Raelle could tell they'd been itching to reach.

"So, you were at a premier last night,"

She made eye contact with Tally over the phone between them, "I was, yeah."

"And there was a certain someone you were with,"

"There was." 

Tally mouthed at her to smile, clearly not liking the way her words clipped. She tried to take the advice.

"Can we officially call you an item then? People are dying to know."

It felt weird. Everyone already knew, pretty much, but Scylla was so secretive that previously people didn't even know the pair were friends, so even though they'd discussed Raelle confirming it in the interview, everything in her was telling her to weasel around the question.

She didn't.

"Eh, yeah, you can. But I'm sure you're aware that Scyl likes her privacy, so, respectfully, I'd appreciate it if that was the end of the questions about my girlfriend."

Raelle really hoped that hadn't sounded stand-offish. It probably had, but she couldn't reword it now, and she'd seen Tally look a lot more unimpressed with her than she currently did, so there was no point dwelling on it.

"Oh, of course, no problem," The woman sounded a bit discombobulated by her statement, but she recovered well, "So, it's been a while since you released anything new, any plans in the works that you can tell me about?"

* * *

"Want to explain this?"

She knew it was suspicious that no one had gotten anything of them at the premiere, but she had taken it as the universe finally balancing her karma out when she'd woken up yesterday morning and not seen anything in the press. She really didn't know why she'd expected the universe to stop screwing with her.

"You know what it is Porter, I'm almost certain we've had multiple conversations about it."

"We had several discussions about you pretending to date Raelle Collar. We didn't discuss you getting caught making out with her twice in seven days. Did you mean for this to get out? Because I can return all these masters, but I can't see why you thought you needed to get caught twice in one week."

Sighing, she sat down across the kitchen table from where he sat, "Don't return the masters."

"So it wasn't press?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not as your manager. As your friend who doesn't want to see you do something dumb, yes."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "And what is it you think I'm doing, exactly?"

"Why did we break up Scylla."

For fuck's sake.

"We both know why we broke up, Porter. And I'm really struggling to see whatever it is that you're insinuating."

"Yeah, we broke up because we're better off as friends, blah, blah, blah. But we'd been stuck in limbo for months, Scylla, and then all of a sudden you meet her, and you finally do what neither of us had the balls to do. So, I'm going to ask again. Why did we break up."

"Porter, I'm not an idiot. I know what I'm doing." She did, didn’t she?

"Do you, Scylla? Because I can't help but wonder why you've been hopping from bed to bed for the past three years."

"Oh, great, so as well as being an idiot, I'm a slut."

"I don't give a fuck about who you sleep with, Scylla. I care about why."

"Look, Lucy showed up at the after-party. Raelle was upset and wanted to send her a fuck you, and I was right there. Really Porter, there isn't some disaster waiting to happen. I'm fine, it was a one off, so thanks for stopping it from going anywhere, but none of those other things have anything to do with Raelle."

Porter didn't look convinced, but he'd always been overprotective of her. He'd seen her when her parents died and she wanted to burn the world down, and he'd decided he didn't want to see her like that again, and then he'd watched her piece herself back together. Honestly, as much effort as she put into keeping her life private, Porter worked just as hard. Him getting to the press before they could publish anything from Saturday wasn't anything new.

He sighed. 

"Okay. I'm sorry I came on strong, sometimes I just worry that you're not going to get back up if you get hurt again. I guess I should know better by now." He reached for her hand on the table, and she appreciated the concern despite still being defensive, "No offense Scylla, but you don't really do things halfway, and I've picked your ass off the floor enough times to never want to see your heart break ever again."

To be fair to Porter, he wasn't wrong. That didn't mean he was right in this case, but he wasn't wrong. Scylla had always been attracted to Raelle, and yeah maybe that had been what made her finally end things with Porter, but that didn't mean she had feelings. It just meant she wasn't immune to a pretty face. Either way, there was no chance she'd ever let herself wreck what she already had with the woman. She had few enough friends, and Raelle was very clearly not looking for anything more than friendship from _anyone_ at the minute.

"You know, when you called me and said you needed to talk, my mind went to way worse places than this. Like, way, way worse."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to risk you dawdling." He smiled at her then, for the first time she'd waltzed through the door, "Have you had lunch yet?"

"Nope, do you want to go out or cook?"

"Let's cook. I think people might have a heart attack if they see any more of you this week."

It was a good day now they were past their argument, but Scylla couldn't forget what Porter had said. He had a point about her bed hopping; it hadn't started until she'd met the blonde, and she was self-aware enough that she knew she'd started it as a distraction from the woman. But she'd always assumed her attraction to Raelle was just that. Attraction. Physical. Lust. 

Easily displaced.

Now that she'd gotten a taste of what her body clearly wanted, she was concerned that it hadn't done anything to cool the craving. If anything, it was worse.

So maybe she was an idiot, for going straight to nonchalance when Raelle had asked if she was okay with kissing her last week. For offering herself up on a platter when Raelle needed a favour. For agreeing to lie to Raelle's friends.

As adamantly as she'd denied there was something else there to Porter, she'd spent the previous day on her couch stewing over what to do. At the end of all her brainstorming, she decided to ignore it. It would be fine. Lucy’s appearance was a one off. It wouldn’t happen again, there would be no call to get that close again. And if worse came to worst, she could tell Raelle she needed to pull back on the physical stuff and the blonde wouldn’t question it. 

It would be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Think I'm gonna stick to updating Monday, Thursday and Saturday.


	7. Chapter 7

Hiking. In summer heat. Why had she agreed to this?

When Scylla had suggested they go hiking and Raelle post something instead of them going out and getting spotted by paps again, Raelle had assumed she meant they would be going on a baby hike. A little stroll up a hill with a pretty view at the end that would make them look cute.

Raelle most definitely did not look cute. 

Scylla wasn’t even sweating. Well, she was, but it was that thin sheen that made people glow and made everyone else never want to exercise again. This was one of those occasions that convinced Raelle the actress wasn’t human. She had to be some kind of robot, built to be a level of perfect mere mortals could never reach.

They’d been walking for over two hours already, and Raelle was starting to doubt her sanity. The first hour or so had been fine, it wasn’t until they’d let the silence settle around them instead of chatting that Raelle had started to worry she’d taken on more than she could chew. 

Panting, Raelle asked, “How much further is it?”

Scylla stopped, as if noticing Raelle’s struggle for the first time, “At this speed, probably like another half hour.” Her eyebrows crinkled, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. This just wasn’t what I envisioned when you said hike.” She was not fine.

“What did you think I meant?”

There was no good answer to this, she should’ve kept her mouth shut. Praying the brunette wouldn’t take it as an insult, but knowing she would, Raelle said, “I thought you meant like, a quick walk and then sitting for longer than we walked and then another quick walk back. This is LA, Scylla, nobody actually hikes!”

“I’m not some valley girl in lulu lemon pants, Raelle. I did tell you we would be 6 hours.”

Raelle wasn’t sure whether that was teasing sarcasm or angry sarcasm, but either way, she replied sheepishly, “I thought that was an exaggeration.”

Scylla took a sip from her water bottle and squinted up the trail before returning her gaze to Raelle, “If you make it to the viewpoint, I brought snacks? I mean you’ve already done two hours, what’s thirty minutes more?”

“How are you fine right now? Like you’re not even slightly out of breath.”

Scylla smiled, “I hike Realle, you knew that, it’s not my fault you can’t walk up a hill.” Okay, so it  _ was  _ teasing sarcasm, or else Scylla’s anger had faded fast. Raelle thought she was safe until the actress tilted her head, “Did you skip breakfast?”

She wasn’t going to answer that.

“You did, didn’t you?

“You have no proof of that. Come on, the sooner we get there the sooner I can sit.”

* * *

Raelle hadn’t accounted for how difficult it would be to get back up once she’d sat down, but that was a problem for her future self.

“Anancostia asked about you.”

“Oh.”

It had been a week since the premier, and they hadn’t seen each other since. Raelle had been a little apprehensive about today, worried that she might have taken things too far at the afterparty, but Scylla had arrived and been completely normal. Raelle was probably just too caught up in her own head.

“Yeah. I can probably hold her off for another week, but she’s not going to let it go.”

“It’s chill, we expected this didn’t we?” 

Anacostia Quartermaine was terrifying. They’d met in passing once, and the woman had scanned her up and down with an unimpressed expression before saying, “So you’re the one hiding in corners with Scylla.” It had been very clear she didn’t think much of the blonde, and Raelle was absolutely shitting another run in.

“I know, but she’s protective. And smart, I never got away with anything.”

“Well, we can’t get out of it, so we might as well suck it up.”

“You’re right.” 

Scylla stared at the ground for a few minutes, fingers doodling in the dust as silence fell over them. She still looked worried though, and Raelle wasn’t one to push, but she also couldn’t leave things alone, “What else is up?”

The actress looked up apologetically, "Rehearsals start in two weeks, after that I'll only really have Sundays free for a while, so I don't know how much time I'll have to do fake dates. Any chance we can switch to hanging out at home and posting more?"

"Yeah, of course. I'd take hanging out and staging photos over getting gawked at in public any day." She would, and it might also assuage some of her guilt over robbing Scylla of her privacy.

"We should probably do something public next weekend at least though. Unless you have plans already.”

“What if we went out for dinner with Anacostia? She might be less scary if we’re in public.” At least then Anacostia wouldn’t want to cause a scene, so Raelle figured it might protect her from some of the woman’s hostility. Or maybe she wouldn’t care and the press would have a field day about her girlfriend’s guardian’s disapproval.

“I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s probably easier than trying to find another time that suits all of us. I’ll call her when I get home.” It didn’t console her any that Scylla seemed just as apprehensive as she did about the whole debacle.

“How likely is it that I can convince her not to hate me?”

The brunette toyed anxiously with her bottom lip, “She doesn’t even like Porter, Raelle. I wouldn’t hold your breath. It’s not important anyway, she can’t do anything about it.”

Raelle felt better knowing that even Porter wasn't on the approved list; if he couldn't do it with over 20 years of friendship, there wasn't anything that could make Scylla's guardian like Raelle. Still sucked though.

Scylla stood up and dusted her legs off, "You ready to head back?"

Following suit, Raelle whined, "If I say no, will you carry me?"

It was a joke. It was meant to be a joke. Scylla knew she was joking, but a grin stretched across her face and all of a sudden Raelle's feet weren't on the ground. Raelle's arm flew around the brunette's neck in a panic, but Scylla's arms were strong where they cradled her. That didn't mean she wanted to subject Scylla to how sweaty she still was despite their rest.

"Ew, no, Scylla I'm all gross, put me down."

"No you're not." There was something about the sureness in her voice that was more attractive than it should've been, but after spinning her around and teasing her some more, Scylla finally relented and returned her to her own feet.

"Can you walk, now?"

* * *

Raelle was back on her own bed, once again clean and cosy and nowhere near the sweaty mess she'd been that morning. Finally happy with what she wanted to post, she took a screenshot and sent it to Scylla to make sure she was okay with it. The photo wasn't one of the one's Scylla had seen her take, the actress' back was to her, perfectly blocking the sun so that most of her was indecipherable except for her outline. People would still be able to tell it was her if they were looking to find her, so Raelle figured it would do. 

She scrolled through the rest of the photos she'd gotten while she waited for a reply. Scylla looked more like a model selling hiking gear than someone who'd actually been hiking for hours. The sun caught her skin's thin sheen perfectly, making her look otherworldly in the midday light even in the photos she'd been too distracted to notice Raelle taking. In the few where Raelle had managed to get her smiling, it reached her eyes -a rarity in photos the public got to see of the women since most were either from carpets or paps. But Raelle had been hesitant to post any of those photographs, unwilling to share the version of Scylla she always saw with everyone else. Especially since Scylla wouldn't post something like that of herself if it weren't for their current situation. She was pulled out of her musings by her phone.

Scylla: 'I nearly died today' is a little dramatic, don't you think? 

Raelle: not when it's true, but we can change the caption if that's your only issue 

Scylla: No, don't change it

Raelle: and it  _ was  _ worth the view

Scylla: I mean, I go most Sundays, you can tag along again anytime you want to have a near death experience

Raelle: you really want to be the death of me don't you?

She got a winky face back and let the conversation trail off when she went to actually post the picture. Maybe Scylla was right, 'I nearly died today, but the view was worth it' might have been a little dramatic, but Raelle could be as dramatic as she wanted on her own social media, so she hit post and scrolled down to see what had happened on the last photo she'd posted.

She'd had to delete a handful of comments, but most of them were positive. Some of them were a little too positive. Neither of them had signed into their Twitter accounts for fear of seeing something written about them they'd rather not see, so the only reaction to their PR stunt that she'd been able to see were comments on this photo and tweets she'd seen herself tagged in on her official Twitter account. 

And people were buying it, which wasn't surprising since people probably wanted to buy it. And Scylla was good at what she did, in almost every picture of the two of them in public, Scylla looking at Raelle like she held the moon. It was a little jarring to see it when she knew it was all an act. 

Just as she was about to lock her phone, she got a post notification for Lucy. Deciding to do it before she lost her resolve, she went to her account and turned the notifications off, then closed the app quickly. Putting down her phone for the night, Raelle could tell sleep would come easy.

* * *

Scylla couldn't sleep. She'd been wrong last week and, as much as she hated admitting it, Porter had been right. She was in over her head. 

Raelle was constantly in her brain, buzzing around like a fly that she just couldn't get rid of. She'd thought that it was a temporary aftereffect of what had happened at the after-party, but by Friday it hadn't stopped, and Scylla had accepted that this was her new normal. Ironically, thoughts of the blonde had distracted her so much on their hike this morning that she hadn't even noticed the very real, physical version of the woman was struggling to keep up until it had been shoved in her face. 

And then all she'd been able to think about were more enjoyable scenarios in which Raelle was sweaty and breathless, which really didn’t help the situation. If the singer noticed how quiet she'd been for the remainder of the trip, she didn't mention it.

But that wasn't the problem. Wanting to sleep with the blonde had been the wake up call that had made her end things with Porter. It was what she'd been using an endless stream of bodies to distract herself from since then. It was something she'd been aware of when she signed up for this.

What was a very real issue, was that she didn't just crave touch anymore. It wasn't like she'd spent three years pining away in the friend zone, she'd never thought about the blonde romantically before, never imagined that it would bother her that Raelle had kissed her to piss someone else off. But it did. 

And now Scylla was racking her brain to try and figure out what had changed. Whether anything actually had changed or if it was possible that she'd just been obtuse enough to not realise how she'd felt. 

Maybe it was just that spending so much more time with Raelle was going to her head. Maybe her loneliness was finally catching up to her and she was latching onto the closest person she could. Maybe the only real problem was that she hadn't slept with anyone since she'd agreed to be Raelle's fake girlfriend and it was messing with her head.

It was probably that.

It had to be that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I might be a little off schedule wise (yes, the one I JUST made, I suck I know) this weekend cause I haven't even started my valentine's fic sorry guys  
> 2) Apologies to any valley girls in lulu lemon pants, you do you


	8. Chapter 8

Porter was dropping her over to Raelle's for movie night while Scylla sat in the passenger seat debating whether or not to tell him she was confused. It was on the tip of her tongue from the minute she got in the car until she left it, just as it had been every time she'd spoken to him since Saturday, but it never made it past the final hurdle out of her mouth. 

She'd brought a bag this time, and forewarned Porter she might end up crashing again. Raelle had sworn there would be no horror this week, so her confusion over her feelings notwithstanding, Scylla felt fairly confident about the evening. 

Raelle hugged her when she arrived, same as she had when they'd met up for the hike, so apparently that was something they did now and not just part of convincing Tally and Abigail that they were together. It was nice, but it pulled at something in her she'd rather ignore. She'd also like to ignore how good the blonde looked in the dark tank top she wore, but that wasn't working either.

They chatted and got to sorting snacks the same way they had the first time around, and Scylla found herself relaxing as she forgot all about her confusion. This was how things had always been, her and Raelle talking shit about absolutely nothing, and it was comforting to know that even with everything going on in Scylla’s head, they could slip back into easy companionship. 

Tally and Abigail arrived earlier than they had last time, so the pair were still in the kitchen drinking tea when they walked in. Raelle was immediately engulfed in a hug by Tally while Abigail leaned against the doorframe, shaking her head slightly at the redhead’s antics. When Tally pulled away however, she turned to Scylla - who’d been leaning on the counter next to the two hugging women - and moved as though to hug her.

She froze.

It was fine, she could hug her. It would be a little uncomfortable for Scylla, but better that than she appear rude to Raelle’s friends. It was fine. Tension filling her body, Scylla waited for the incoming contact.

A pale, uncovered arm came up in front of her, not touching her, but catching Tally’s form half a foot in front of Scylla’s chest, “Tal, no.”

It was only two words, but the look on Raelle’s face and the tone was enough to get the other woman to back off. Tally immediately looked sheepish, stepping back quickly and apologising, “Sorry! I should’ve asked, sometimes I forget not everyone’s a hugger.”

Flooded with relief at not having to hug the woman, and happy that she didn’t seem offended, Scylla forced a smile to her face, “Don’t worry about it. And it's not a you thing, I swear, it's just a general thing." 

The trio chatted idly for a while, catching up on their personal lives instead of the work conversation that filled up their week, and Scylla felt herself slowly calm down, still annoyed at herself for causing a scene, however small it had been. No one else seemed to be annoyed at least, and the mood in the room hadn’t shifted, so she figured it was safe to assume it had already been forgotten.

She’d zoned out of the conversation by the time Abigail looked at her, "I heard you got the Shitbird to go on a hike. How’d that go?”

Scylla smirked, hoping the woman wouldn't notice she hadn't been listening, “She made it very clear that she’d prefer other means of getting sweaty,” Raelle rolled her eyes and flushed a little. “I don’t think I’ll be able to convince her to come again.”

“I might, if you promise to carry me again.”  _ Oh no, please don't flirt back that's not fair. _

“You hated that! You told me to put you back down as soon as you were off the ground.”

“I’ve rethought my stance. But I’d prefer to be carried up this time, no copping out and carrying me down.”

“I am not carrying you the whole way up.”

“Just a little bit?” The smile pulling at one corner of the blonde’s mouth was too endearing to refuse. 

“Fine.” Against her will and despite the fact that she was trying to look exasperated, Scylla felt a smile taking over her face.

Abigail made a gagging sound a few seconds later - pulling Scylla’s gaze from Raelle’s- and the ‘couple’ looked over just in time to catch Tally playfully whacking her shoulder.

“Can we get to the movie watching now?” Abigail’s voice was displeased, but Scylla was 80% sure she was just teasing.

“Yeah, you guys go on in and get it set up, we’ll be two minutes.”

Tally smiled at them that way adults look at small children who’ve just done something stupidly adorable, and Abigail scoffed suspiciously.

Scylla wasn’t sure what Raelle wanted to talk about, but if Abigail thought they were in here making out, that was fine by her. The conversation had pulled her out of her head and now her heart rate had calmed down again, but Raelle was a little fidgety which was starting to make her nervous again.

“I’m really sorry about Tally. I was going to say something to her before because I thought this might happen, but I didn’t know if it was my place to tell her that you didn’t really like to be touched.”

She hadn’t known what to expect, but this wasn’t it. Sometimes, Scylla felt silly about her aversion to touch, it wasn’t like she had some kind of trauma to justify it, and most people tended to think it was strange given her profession. In fact, she'd had more than one person tell her to her face that she was putting it on, so it was refreshing to have someone be so mindful of it. Not that it was new, Raelle was always respectful of everyone’s needs.

Still, it was a nice reminder, and it warmed her heart in that irksome way Raelle had a habit of doing. 

Scylla reached over and took Raelle’s hand from where she’d crossed her arms, and the blonde squeezed back, reacting as though she’d been waiting to reach out herself but had held back. Eyes trained on their joint hands, Scylla’s voice was soft when she said, “It’s fine, really. Thank you, for stopping her. I could’ve just put up with it.” 

The blonde tugged their hands, drawing Scylla's eyes up, “Hey, you don’t have to put up with things just to please my friends. Even if any of this was real, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable just so they like you. And they do like you, by the way, so stop worrying about that too.”

The confusion was back, and she hated that it wasn’t even because of touch this time. She wanted to hug the woman, and well, Raelle had hugged her multiple times, so Scylla did. Raelle seemed surprised - which made sense given that Scylla rarely initiated anything that wasn’t for an audience or to prove a point - but she relaxed into it, hands settling gently on Scylla's back. 

It was short lived though, because just then Abigail’s voice echoed through the apartment, “Stop making out and get your asses in here!”

* * *

The rest of the evening was uneventful, and once again everyone ended up crashing. After breakfast, Scylla headed home for a few hours to change and get ready to meet up with Anacostia.

They'd agreed to meet Anacostia there, mostly so that Scylla could try and calm Raelle down before they arrived. She'd been sending panicky messages all week, and she'd been noticeably anxious all morning, double checking what to wear and that Anacostia hadn't suddenly decided she hated the restaurant they were supposed to be going to. Scylla thought the whole thing was adorable, and then scolded herself for letting the thought bloom.

Raelle arrived at her place 10 minutes before she'd been expecting her, and Scylla, surprised both by her early arrival and the roses in Raelle's hands, took a moment to recalibrate upon opening the door. 

"Hey."

"Hi," Lifting her hand to point to the flowers with a furrowed brow, Scylla asked, "Are those for me or Ana?"

"What? Oh, no, I would've gotten you lilies, these are for Anacostia. I thought it might make her hate me less, is that stupid? Too try hard? Maybe we should just leave them here."

Scylla grabbed the blonde's forearm to try and soothe her nerves, "Hey, hey. Stop. She'll like them. She won't let you know it, but she'll appreciate it. You ready to go?”

“Not even a little bit.”

The fidgetiness didn’t stop there, Raelle was jittery the entire drive, and when they got to the restaurant, Scylla’s hand felt like it might break if it was squeezed any harder. Scylla stopped them before they went in, free hand coming to rest on the blonde’s forearm, “Okay, you need to relax. This isn’t real, and her opinion wouldn’t matter even if it was.”

Raelle just nodded her head, but didn’t look convinced, “Yeah.”

“Raelle, talk to me. Please. What’s going on?”

“That woman’s opinion means more to you than anyone’s Scyl. You can’t tell me that if she hates me it won’t change how you see me. I mean, what if it were my parents, and you walked in knowing that they’d almost definitely hate you?”

“Raelle, I’m not 16 anymore, Anacostia doesn’t decide who my friends are. If I was going to ditch you, I would’ve done it by now. It’s just dinner, nothing’s changing, okay?”

Raelle looked at her for a minute, and Scylla thought she was going to have to keep persuading her, but then the singer breathed out and loosened her grip on Scylla’s hand.

“Okay. Okay, you’re right.”

“I always am, you should know that by now,” She pulled the door open, pleased that Raelle was at least capable of hiding her nerves now, and spotted Anacostia immediately, sitting at her favourite table in the place. She stood when they approached, “You’re late.”

“No we’re not Ana, you were early.” Anacostia’s father was in the army, and his parenting style had been more drill sergeant than anything else. It had stuck, and to this day she woman was the most regimented person Scylla knew. 

Anacostia smirked, “Come here, Lala.” 

Asshole. Scylla could feel the blush rising on her cheeks, cursing the stupid nickname that had been about since she started babbling as a baby. She hugged the woman quickly despite the use of the nickname and then, voice low, she whispered into her guardian's ear, “Play nice, or I’ll be a pain in your ass.”

Standing out of the embrace, Scylla turned to Raelle, “Ana, this is Raelle. Raelle, Anacostia.” They exchanged pleasantries, and Anacostia hid her surprise at the flowers, but Scylla could see through her.

Scylla had been so focused on Raelle’s anxiety that she hadn’t realised she was strung out herself, but under Anacostia’s sharp gaze it was unavoidable. All this time Raelle was worried about what Anacostia would think of Raelle, but now Scylla was terrified that the woman would embarrass her in front of Raelle. The nickname had been bad enough, she really hoped that Anacostia wouldn’t warm up to the blonde enough to say anything else mortifying.

“So, Raelle. Last time we spoke you rambled on about how there was nothing going on in those corners you two hide in.” 

She stopped there, and Scylla rolled her eyes, kicking her leg under the table. Raelle’s spooked face was adorable, but short-lived, “There isn’t! Well, there wasn’t, Ma’am, at the time.”

She tried not to smirk, not wanting to make the blonde feel any worse than she already did, but she couldn’t help the curve of her lip as she stared at the woman and mouthed ‘Ma’am?’. Raelle shrugged back, still squirming under Anacostia’s eyes.

“Yess, well, given that the whole world has since seen evidence to the contrary, Collar, things have clearly changed.”

Okay, precious as Raelle’s blush was, that was enough, “Ana, that was my fault, leave her alone.”

Raelle sent her a timid smile, and Scylla decided that alcohol was necessary if she was going to make it through this dinner, “Drinks? We should order drinks.”

Everyone sighed in relief.

* * *

Ana had loosened up, and so far, she’d been gentler in her inquisition than her opening lines. It helped that Raelle seemed more at ease as well, but that was probably just the glass of wine she’d had before switching to water. It was bizarre, seeing them together, two separate parts of her life colliding, but she thought she liked it. Especially since things were surpassing her expectations. Even with this surprise, Scylla didn’t trust Anacostia not to get nosy and scare the blonde, but she also really needed to pee. She had since she’d finished her first glass of wine, which had been two glasses of wine ago.

“Lala, where’s your head gone?”

She met Anacosia’s inquisitive eyes, glaring at the moniker the woman had clearly used just to annoy her.

“Sorry, just tired. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“Worried about the new project?”

_ More like the blonde sitting opposite you _ , “Yeah, I probably left prep too late, now I’m trying to ram everything into my brain.”

“That’s not like you.” 

“I’m actually thinking of taking a break after this, I could use some time off.” She’d told Raelle about that already, so she wasn’t reticent to say it in front of her, but it had taken a long time to acknowledge that she needed the time. 

“It’d be for the best Lala, you’ve been working like a dog for eight years now.”

Raelle piped in before Scylla could say anything more, “Sorry, I can’t not ask anymore, why Lala?”

Anacostia wasn’t throwing a party over the singer’s existence yet, but she’d warmed up to her enough to grin and say, “When Scylla was a baby she couldn’t say her own name for ages, it came out more like Sla when she tried. And then her parents started calling her Sla, so she shortened it even more, called herself La. But anytime you’d call La, she’d reply La, so it became a game of seeing how many ‘La’s we could add and have her reply with. Kid got to six before she couldn’t keep track of the ‘La’s anymore. Don’t know why, but it stuck.”

“I hate you. And what kind of kid  _ can  _ say Scylla right off the bat?”

“You love me, don’t lie. And I can keep going with the embarrassing stuff, kid, so I’d cool it with the ‘I hate you’s.”

She sighed in defeat. She really needed to pee, so she sent an apologetic look Raelle’s way before she went to stand, “I’m going to the bathroom. Ana, please don’t spook my girlfriend.”

She liked the way the word slid off her lips.  _ Girlfriend.  _ Liked the tinge it brought to Raelle's cheeks. She was so fucked. 

* * *

Raelle was going to murder Scylla. 

She really hoped this situation stayed just as it was. Awkward. So, so awkward, but she could deal with awkward. What she couldn’t deal with was Anacostia probing into their fake relationship while Scylla wasn’t here to help. 

Anacostia looked at her square on for a full minute, then set down her fork and sipped her wine. It was painful, sitting there abandoned. Then the woman spoke.

“Look Collar, I don’t know what to make of you yet, but Scylla’s clearly enamoured with you, and she hasn’t stopped looking at you since you two sat down, so I suppose I’ll have to get used to you. But I’ve got my eyes on you, and I don’t want to see any more videos I can’t ever unsee. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And stop with the ma’am, I’m not eighty, Ms Quartermaine is fine.”

“Yes ma’-, Ms Quartermaine.”

Elation filled her as she saw Scylla coming back towards the table, looking as though she was attempting to figure out whether a war had broken out in her absence. She ran a reassuring hand along the back of Raelle’s shoulders as she passed by her to sit down, and then reached to tuck the hair that had fallen out of place back behind her ear. 

Raelle felt jealous at times like this, that Scylla was so good at this. She made it look so seamless, was confident in every motion. But a residual slither of her tween self lingered constantly, making Raelle feel like a buffoon whenever she was sober around the brunette. Every time Raelle went to do anything, she got paranoid that it was too much, or not enough, or that it would look unnatural. It was infuriating, more so because Scylla didn’t even like touch, yet she knew just when and how to brush against Raelle to seem infatuated with her. Hell, she’d even convinced Anacostia, who’d known her from birth and taken her in at 16. 

“Everything okay over here?” The concern in her eyes was genuine, Raelle knew that much at least. 

“Yeah, everything’s perfect.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad news, I'm putting this fic on pause.  
> I haven't fully decided yet, so there may or may not be an upload on Saturday, but I've been really busy and I'm getting burnt out, so I think I'm going to leave this alone for a week or two. It shouldn't be longer than that and it could be shorter depending on how I feel, but it'll definitely be at least a week.  
> Sorry guys 😔

Raelle was glad to have survived dinner, and to be writing again, and more than anything, she was glad to have her Sunday to herself. No Abigail, no Tally, no PR stuff and no responsibilities. It was past noon and she was still in bed, movies playing on her laptop and her phone dying already despite her having left her bed only once this morning, and even that was only because she couldn’t ignore her bladder and her grumbling stomach.

She’d barely had a day alone in two months, and she wasn’t going to waste today doing anything other than hiding in her room and ignoring the world. The air in her room was warm, but not smothering, the sheets she just washed already had crumbs on them from her snacking, and her pillows were arranged perfectly to stop her neck getting sore from watching movies all day. The only problem was the background noise of LA that never stopped, a mixture of beeping, knocking and chatter. Wait, knocking was wrong. Why was there knocking? 

None of her friends would dare, they’d all been warned to stay away, and this building had a code so the only other options were her neighbours, but she’d never interacted with any of them except old Mrs. May upstairs. Mrs. May definitely didn’t knock like that, her knocks were so faint you could scarcely hear them. So who the fuck was at her door?

She waited for a minute, but the knocking didn’t stop, coming back every few seconds, so she begrudgingly dragged herself out of bed and headed for the door. Pulling it open, she froze. She thought she was hallucinating. What the hell was going on? Starting to think she’d spent months in her bed by accident and missed some kind of memo, Raelle came to and shook her head out. 

“Raelle, do you always take this long to open your door?”

When her brain finally caught up with the situation, Raelle beamed. She was confused, but her parents were on her doorstep and she hadn’t seen them in eight months, so that was lost beneath the joy at their sudden arrival.

Arms tight around her mother, she joked, “Nah, that’s just for you guys.”

“What, no hugs for your old man?”

She stepped back and hugged her pops, but not without jokingly rolling her eyes right in his face, “What are you guys doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you, but why didn’t you tell me you were coming to town?”

“Can’t we just come by for a visit ‘cause we miss our kid?”

Her parents were hiding something, Raelle just couldn’t place what. They looked at each other and then back at Raelle, and she raised her chin slightly, “You could, yeah, but you haven’t in five years, and you guys hate this place, that’s why I always go home instead.”

She ushered them further into her home and led them until they all settled in the living room, bags abandoned in the hall.

“We were worried about you, Rae, everyone was. We booked this trip over a month ago after debating it for weeks, it was the soonest your father and I could both get off work. We organised everything with Tally, asked her to keep it a surprise.” Her mother at least looked sheepish, so Raelle didn’t cut in, “Then you seemed to be doing better, but we figured we’d come visit anyway. It’s been too long.”

She felt conflicted about their planning to visit, apparently everyone she knew thought she needed babysat. But she was happy to see them, and it would be absurd to spend the week annoyed with them when she got so few opportunities to see them.

“Plus, we wanna meet this new girl of yours.” 

Raelle did her best not to freeze upon the realisation that her parents would want to meet Scylla, and smiled in what she hoped seemed a genuine way, “Oh, I dunno, she’s uh, she’s pretty busy at the minute. She starts her next project in a week, got lots of lines to memorise.”

“Well, we’re here for a week. In fact, we were thinking of doing a tour of some vineyards, you two should come along, we could make a whole weekend out of it.”

They looked so hopeful, but Raelle really didn’t know if she could ask more of Scylla than she already had, and even if she said yes, Raelle wasn’t sure she could lie to her parents so thoroughly for an entire weekend. 

“I’ll call later, see what way her schedule’s set up, but even if she can’t come, you know I’m always up for drinking all weekend.” Hoping to distract them, she switched topics, “When was the last time you two ate?”

It worked, thankfully, and the family decided to head out for lunch which involved a displeased Raelle having to get showered and presentable. In the middle of her scramble to get ready, she sent a bunch of panicky messages to Scylla, asking if she could talk, but she didn’t receive any replies. 

She found out that her parents were staying at a hotel nearby, and Raelle insisted on upgrading them and paying for the whole thing, elated that their lodgings meant she didn’t have to spend a full seven days in their company. She loved her parents, more than anything, but that didn’t mean she wanted them living in her pocket, asking questions about her relationship constantly.

When they finished lunch, Raelle left her parents to get some rest from their trip and get situated in their suite. She debated heading straight to Scylla's place, and then pulled over to call first, not wanting to arrive unannounced at the brunette's home. Thankfully, she picked up on the third ring.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be having your 'Screw everyone I want to stay in bed all day' day?"

"I am, but somethin' got in the way. Are you home?"

"Eh, yeah?"

"Cool, can I come over? I know you're busy, but something's come up and I need to talk."

"Right now?" Scylla didn’t usually ask this many questions, but Raelle didn’t have time to query it when she was already freaking out about her parents.

"I mean, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, no yeah that's fine. I'll see you soon then."

"See you soon."

Raelle sat in her car outside Scylla's, trying unsuccessfully to calm down about the whole situation. Giving up, she knocked on Scylla's door quickly, leg bouncing where she stood in an effort to dispel some of the restless energy. The door was wrenched open and revealed a Scylla who had evidently also been having a pyjama day, but Raelle didn't take any of that in.

"My parents are in town!"

Scylla eyes went wide, comically wide, and she moved her mouth like she was trying to figure out what to say, “What?"

Raelle sighed and the brunette stood back so she could come through the door instead of just standing awkwardly over the threshold, and then started leading her to the kitchen.

"They were worried about me, apparently Tally helped them organise everything before we started this."

"Shit.” She ran a hand over her face as she leant against the counter, before looking back up to Raelle’s face, “How long are they here for?"

"A week. They want us to go on some trip this weekend, wine-tasting and all that. I should say no, right? I'll deal with it, you don't have to meet them." 

Scylla wrung her fingers out, "Doesn't that seem rude though? I mean, they're here for a whole week and their daughter's girlfriend can't find any free time to meet them? They'll think I'm an asshole."

Why did Scylla always have to think everything through? Raelle could see the hesitancy on her face, "Maybe, but you can't tell me you want to spend a whole weekend parading around in front of my parents. And you start back on Monday, you'll be stressed out the whole time."

"You had to meet Ana, I'm sure your parents won't be nearly as bad." Raelle didn't reply immediately, and Scylla started to look worried, "Will they?"

Raelle felt her cheeks flushing, "No, no they'll be fine. I'm just worried about all the embarrassing stuff they might tell you."

The smile on Scylla's face calmed her nerves slightly, but not enough.

"More embarrassing than that time you tripped over the curb and fell flat on your ass before telling me I'd gotten taller because you didn't realise you were on the ground?"

"You'd be surprised." She was smiling, but on the inside she was shitting it, because there was no chance they'd get through the entire weekend without her parents letting her crush slip. 

Scylla was fiddling with the edge of her t-shirt, lips curled up at Raelle's words but clearly lost somewhere in her own head.

"Are you sure you're okay doing this?"

Her eyebrows furrowed quickly, so briefly that Raelle thought she'd imagined it, then without looking up from her restless hands, Scylla reassured her, "Yeah. Yeah, of course I'll come… but um, out of interest, how long do we plan on keeping this up?"

Raelle hadn't been expecting it, and she didn't really have an answer, so her reply was preceded by a long pause, "I'm not sure. Why, do you want to stop?"

"No, no everything's fine," Scylla finally stopped focusing on her shirt and looked up, "I just don't know how sustainable the lie is. And what's the endgame? I mean, are you going to tell your friends it was fake or do we pretend we broke up but keep faking the PR stuff?"

Scylla had clearly been deliberating on this for a while, and Raelle was a little blindsided by it, and more than anything she wondered what had brought all of it on. Then again, Scylla had been hesitant to lie to Raelle's friends in the first place, so maybe she'd pushed the woman too far.

She wanted to walk closer to the actress, but was wary of spooking her and stayed leaning against the wall opposite, "Scyl, if this is too much, we can stop. I can tell my parents you're busy and Tally and Abigail that we split but we’re staying friends. Whatever you need, I promise."

Scylla stared at her for a minute, expression unreadable, before sighing, "No, I'll come this weekend, and we can keep things up with the girls for a while longer, I'm just tired. Prep, you know? It's a drag."

She wasn't sure she bought that, but the brunette rarely responded well to being pushed, so she accepted the words and hoped Scylla would tell her what was up sooner rather than later.

"Okay."

The actress turned around, starting to boil water, "So, where are your parents now?"

"Back at their hotel, they were up early so we ate and then they went back for a nap."

"So you might be able to salvage your day after all?"

"Nah, too late now. I had to put pants on, so it's already ruined."

Scylla laughed at that as she turned to face the blonde again, which was possibly the first unguarded thing she'd done since Raelle's arrival, and then to Raelle's surprise, she said, "In that case, want to stay and watch a movie? I was just about to start legally blonde."

"Why not."

* * *

She was a fucking masochist.

She didn't even mean to ask, it had just slipped out, and now here she was spending a day she'd intended to spend wallowing with the reason she was wallowing to begin with. 

Dinner with Ana had proved she couldn't keep this up indefinitely. Scylla had gone home with Anacostia after their dinner; they'd planned to have a night in that Saturday before the dinner plans had been suggested, and didn't see why they should change things. Anacostia hadn't seen through the facade, likely because on Scylla's part there wasn't any need for one anymore. It was difficult, to sit there and hear Anacostia tease her about how clearly gone she was for the blonde and not spill her guts to the woman. 

The thing about their relationship was that prior to her parents passing away, Anacostia had been like a cool aunt who helped her do stuff her parents would've otherwise forbidden. It changed when she took guardianship over Scylla, she'd gotten a lot more strict. Someone needed to parent her, after all. And the reason she'd been so good at knowing what Scylla was upto was that she'd previously been the one helping her. She knew how Scylla's schemes played out and was able to perfectly circumvent them.

That had gone away as Scylla got older, even if the fierce protectiveness had not. And she'd learned by now that Scylla was very capable of looking after herself, in all matters except the one currently at hand.

So it had been tortuous to sit there and take the teasing without bursting open at the seams and baring her soul, but she knew what the woman would say, knew she'd tell her to immediately cut it off or tell Raelle the truth. Neither of which she could do.

She'd told Raelle she would do this, and she would. And under absolutely no circumstances would she be admitting anything to the blonde, not with her pining over an ex that still pulled such a vehement reaction from her. 

So she'd sat there, told Anacostia about all the wonderful things that made Raelle _Raelle_ , and felt herself mourning something that she'd never actually gotten to have. Then she'd gotten an uber home alone, given herself the night and today to wallow before she planned to put her big girl pants on and get over it. 

But apparently the universe couldn't even give her that, because the source of her anguish had arrived on her doorstep and she'd been foolish enough to invite her to stay.

And it made it hurt all the more. Because she could see them like this. She could see Raelle in her space - though she'd never had any specific attachment to this space-, could see them flitting around each other like clockwork, could see them as _them_ instead of two separate entities. Raelle mightn't reciprocate her feelings, but she was comfortable here. She knew her way around (it was slightly closer to downtown than Raelle's apartment, and they had ended up coming back here for drinks away from the noise after many an after party) and she knew Scylla.

Not just the dates and names and facts, but also how to navigate Scylla's moods. Regardless of the fact that until a month ago most of their encounters took place inebriated, Raelle was good at reading her. It was probably nothing specific to her though, but more that Raelle tried to do her best by everyone, and for Scylla that involved a lot of patient observation.

Everytime the blonde did something that showed her understanding of Scylla's needs, Scylla felt like she'd been stripped bare. And worse, it felt good to be stripped bare, better than any of the vices she'd used to try and replicate the euphoria. 

Euphoria never lasted though, because inevitably Raelle would do something that made it ever so plain that Scylla's presence didn't bequeath her the same joy. Raelle would leave, return to her real life, Scylla forgotten as her thoughts returned to the stupid bitch that cheated on her. And really, what did that say about Scylla, that Raelle would prefer a cheating ex to her. 

But she'd stick it out. Do whatever Raelle needed for as long as she could, and when she couldn't keep it up, they'd end things and she could pull away slowly. Detach herself until she could move past her feelings and explain it away with her work schedule, go on vacation and find some distraction that worked. 

"Hey Scyl, do you want more tea?" 

The blonde brought her out of her trance, standing from the couch with two mugs in her hand and her eyebrow raised.

That vacation seemed a long ways away.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Hopefully things should be back to normal now, sorry about the two weeks guys 💙

Raelle really didn't want to be out doing groceries today, but the only thing in her fridge was a bag of wilted spinach, and she might be going away for the weekend but she still had to eat today and tomorrow, nevermind how pissed she'd be at herself if she came home from the weekend and had to go straight to the store. Plus, her parents were coming over for dinner. So here she was, stuck staring at vegetables wondering if there was a point buying them or if she'd come home Sunday night to rotting produce filling her fridge. She sighed and picked up the overpriced leeks she'd been staring at, still not used to having money to spend that didn't need to be perfectly budgeted out.

She could feel rather than see the presence behind her. She wasn't in the mood to talk to fans, had too much anxiety over this weekend, but there was no escaping now so she turned around with a fake smile on her face.

The smile dropped. God, she wished this was a fan.

"There's that fake fan smile, nice to know some things never change. I wasn't sure whether to say hi or not, didn't know if it would be weird."

"It is weird. But hi." 

Lucy loitered awkwardly, clearly unsure of herself, "How are things?"

"Good. My parents are in town." Raelle's words were clipped. She had no idea why this was happening; if she'd seen Lucy across the aisle she'd have made a beeline out of the store.

The woman looked surprised, but none of the tentativeness had left her voice, "Your parents came to LA? Thought they hated this place."

"They do."

"Well that'll be nice, I know how much you miss them." She hadn't seen that expression in over a year, but she still knew what it meant: Lucy was bugged about something, and Raelle was willing to bet it was the fact that she'd never been introduced to Raelle's folks. They’d argued about it. Several times.

"Yup."

If the entire interaction wasn't awkward, the pause that followed would be, but as it was the pause seemed to fit. Eventually, Lucy said, "You look good."

That's it, she was done with whatever the hell this was, "What is this, Lucy? Why are we doing this, standing here having a conversation like we're friends. I mean 'you look good'? Really, that's what you're going with?"

"Look, I just… I feel like we never got to talk things through. And that's fine, you don't owe me anything. But I wanted to say that I'm sorry. And I'm glad you're doing well."

Oh. "Well, thanks, I guess. You too."

Raelle was surprised that she didn't feel anything but irritation at Lucy's smirk. Once upon a time, she’d have gone to war for that smirk.

"It does feel good to know I wasn't crazy though."

Well, maybe now she could go to war  _ against  _ that smirk, "What are you talking about?"

"Your girlfriend? You know, the one you assured me was just a stupid kid crush that you were over. I'm not bitter, but it is nice to know I was right."

This was ridiculous, they weren't even on speaking terms anymore and yet they were still stuck on this stupid notion, "Lucy, I can't believe I have to say this again, to  _ you _ of all people, but there wasn't anything going on with me and Scylla when we were together." It took all of Raelle’s (limited) restraint not to just walk away. The words ate at her, the accusation hidden behind a smile, somehow making out Lucy to be the one that was screwed over.

"I'm not saying there was, but even then, she was all you talked about. I swear, it was so frustrating. You'd come home from those stupid parties with this dumb smile on your face and all I'd hear for days would be Scylla this, Scylla that. And you  _ still  _ refused to admit you weren't over that crush."

She had never noticed she'd done it, but looking back now, Lucy had a point. She talked about Scylla a lot, even now. Probably more so now. That didn’t change the fact that nothing had ever happened. The same couldn’t be said about Lucy’s fidelity, and Raelle wasn’t going to sit there and take the accusations without reminding her of that. 

"Yeah, well, at least I never did anything about it." The words were pointed, and from Lucy's face, she knew exactly what they were pointing at. Lucy sighed. 

"We were having a civil conversation Raelle, can we not bring up all the ways I fucked up while you pretend you did nothing wrong?"

"I never said I didn’t do  _ anything  _ wrong, I'm just saying that you're talking an awful lot about me liking Scylla for someone who  _ actually  _ cheated on me."

Her ex raised her hands in the air in surrender, "I didn't mean to start something, okay? I just wanted to say congratulations, the two of you seem really happy together." Lucy sighed again, "Can we call a truce? I fucked up, I know that, and you don't have to forgive me but I'd like it if you didn't leave parties early because of me."

"I didn-"

"You did, and that's fine. But you shouldn't have to."

Sighing in defeat, Raelle nodded, "You're right. Truce?" She stuck her hand out, both relieved to near the end of this conversation and shocked at the entire encounter. Lucy's hand felt foreign in her own after all this time, and the realisation startled her. 

She'd passed the last year and a half in turmoil, not quite knowing where her anger ended and her hurt began, but aware all the same that she still wanted Lucy. Still remembered and longed for what she'd lost. 

Now, the touch of the woman in front of her brought no reaction, except perhaps peace. She was still angry, she didn't think she'd ever not be angry about walking in on Lucy and Beth - really though,  _ Treefine?-  _ but she wasn't consumed by it. It was a ghost of her old fury, and she was coming to recognize that in a way, at some stage Lucy had become a ghost too. 

"Truce."

She was, however, perplexed by all this Scylla talk. It stuck in her mind as she and Lucy parted, seeping into her thoughts even hours later when her parents had eaten and gone. Of course, the thoughts were brought back to their loudest with her parents' excited chatter about meeting her. And much to Raelle's upset, they did in fact remember her young infatuation, though they had agreed not to mention it. 

Raelle didn't buy it, she could see the twinkle in her mother's eyes and she had learned all too well how loose her father's lips could get when a bit of alcohol was involved. 

Maybe she did talk about Scylla a lot, but what was wrong with that? Scylla was her friend, and Scylla was interesting. She talked to Scylla about Abigail and Tally all the time, although some of those conversations weren't perfectly complimentary.

She had talked about Tally and Abigail to Lucy when they were together as well, Lucy was just talking nonsense. Scylla was her friend. That was all, it always had been. She might be gorgeous and clever and witty, she might be the only person who didn't expect anything from Raelle, but she was her friend.

* * *

Raelle was still thinking about it when she woke up in the middle of the night from a weird dream featuring both Scylla and Lucy as well as a dragon. Maybe she’d been the dragon? It wasn’t clear. 

She was itching to write. She'd sat in her car after seeing Lucy with too many thoughts racing to focus on any single one and known that this need would arrive, but she hadn't expected it would arrive so forcefully in the middle of the night. There was no point sleeping now, the thoughts would just keep bubbling until they couldn't be ignored, and besides, with all the time she'd spent blocked she didn't want to pass any opportunities up.

So she sat and she wrote and by the time the sun came up she felt somewhat better. In the small hours of the morning, she'd worked on a few things, and not all of them were Lucy centric. It was strange, not only because she couldn't shake the Scylla thoughts, but also because she couldn't remember the last time she'd written about someone who wasn't Lucy (excluding writing about herself). 

It had been nearly four years since she'd started writing about Lucy, and of course she'd written about other things, but every single lyric that she'd penned about her love life had been related to her ex. Part of Raelle had been worried she'd forgotten how to write about other people, but here it was. Not that she was really sure what it was, given that it was mostly just confusion with a melody, but it was something.

She hated that Lucy had a point. Plus, the timing was inconvenient; by tonight she'd be somewhere with Scylla and her parents, drinking wine and trying not to make it obvious that she was slowly descending into a breakdown over her feelings for the woman she was pretending to date at that very moment. 

Well, if she was going to play the besotted girlfriend all weekend, at least she'd figure her shit out pretty quickly. If she wanted to survive that though, she needed to nap first.

Her phone went off as soon as her head hit the pillow, and if it weren't for the fact that it was Tally's ringtone, she wouldn't have given it a second thought. But it  _ was  _ Tally, and Tally never rang just the once.

"Hey Tal."

Her publicist’s voice was disappointed as it came through the phone, "I was kind of hoping you'd call me and explain, but I gave you all night and you haven't, so I assume you weren't planning on telling me about Lucy?"

Raelle really needed to move out of this Godforsaken city, she couldn't even do her groceries without an audience.

She let her eyes drift closed, "It was nothing, Tal. We bumped into each other and cleared the air, that's all."

"Okay, I believe you. But the thing is, you're both smiling in this photo Rae, and there's already talk about whether you're getting back together."

"There's always dumb talk Tal, you know that. People will forget about it tomorrow." She really hoped that was true, she couldn't deal with this and her Scylla problem.

"Not if they think you're cheating on Scylla, Rae. People don't particularly like her, but they remember her parents, and if people think you've cheated, they  _ will  _ take her side."

"It was a coincidence, Tal. There aren't any sides to take." She’d fought to keep her frustration out of her words, but she could feel it creeping in.

"I know, but it's my job to worry about this stuff." The redhead sighed down the phone, "What did Scylla say about it."

"She doesn't care, Tal. Unlike you, she actually trusts me." Raelle considered telling Tally the truth about her and Scylla purely to get out of this conversation.

"Good, she's good for you, it would suck if Lucy crawled out of the woodwork and ruined it."  _ Hasn't she though? _

"I know she is." Silence.

"Hey, Tal? I was about to take a nap when you called, so is there anything else, or?"

"It's 830 in the morning, Rae, why are you napping?" At least the concern in Tally’s voice was from her friend Tally now, as opposed to publicist Tally’s concern a moment ago. Still, she was apprehensive about answering. 

"Woke up and wrote last night. I'm ready to pass out."

"Ooh exciting! Have you talked to Abi about it yet?"

"No, I was planning to tell her when she gets back from her trip. When is that, by the way?" She’d escaped the city as well, which Raelle hoped meant she’d be in a better mood for a while.

"Do you purposefully tune her out? Her and Libba get back Wednesday. "

"Wednesday, cool. Okay, night Tal. Love you."

"Love you too Rae. Set an alarm or you won't have time to pack."

"What if I've already packed?" She hadn’t. She didn’t even know what she was going to take.

"We both know you haven't.” Raelle could hear the grin in her voice, “Text me when you wake up?"

"Sure Tal." 

Raelle's phone buzzed as she hung up, and a message from an unknown number greeted her.

_ In case it wasn't clear at dinner, if you hurt Scylla, I will end you. _

How the fuck had Anacostia Quartermaine gotten her number?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a lil short, but hope you guys like it anyway 💙

She'd tried so hard to move past it since seeing Raelle that Sunday, and in her opinion she'd done a damn good job of not thinking about the blonde. On Tuesday she'd only thought about her sixteen times, on Wednesday it was only fourteen and on Thursday it was eighteen. Given that she'd been reading lines and doing character study all day every day, she wasn't sure she'd been that successful after all, but it was much easier to live in her fantasy of success than face the underlying problem.

When she woke up Friday and saw a message from Porter asking if she was okay, she'd rolled her eyes at him and replied with question marks. 

His response was quick - a photo of Raelle and Lucy smiling at each other in a vegetable aisle. 

Oh. 

Since when were Raelle and Lucy back on speaking terms?

Scylla: We've talked about this Porter, why wouldn't I be okay?

Porter: I know, just making sure

Porter: You sure about this weekend?

Scylla: Yeah

Scylla: Are you done nosing?

Porter: Am I ever?

Scylla didn't bother texting back, instead she tossed her phone aside and burrowed back under the covers. She didn't have to be at Raelle's until 4pm, and despite what she'd told Ana, she felt as prepared as she could for work, so all she had on her to-do list was packing. 

Packing could wait, she was going on a hike. 

Her parents had dragged her hiking every Sunday as a kid, right up to the day she went to boarding school, and she'd kept the habit up when they died but used it as thinking time as opposed to the chatter filled experience it had been when they'd gone as a family. 

It was peaceful on the trails, no cameras or whispering at her tail, just her and the scenery. Most big decisions that she'd made in her adult life had been made on a hike, and usually the familiar treks brought clarity. There was no such clarity today. 

However, she could honestly say that she had only thought of the blonde once today, that one thought had just never stopped..

Three weeks ago Raelle had been using her to piss Lucy off, and now they were having a chat in the middle of the grocery store. Scylla was pretty sure they must have happened upon each other accidentally, surely if they'd been hanging out again Raelle would've let her know. And surely if they were seeing each other again, Raelle wouldn't be so stupid as to be seen in public with her. 

Even if it was a coincidence like Scylla assumed, it was unsettling to think that they were at a stage where Raelle could smile at her ex. Scylla remembered all too clearly how much of a mess the singer had been when she'd discovered the cheating; between the (heavier than usual) drinking and the crying, Scylla hadn't known how to handle the woman. It had been ugly, and not just for a few weeks. In fact, in the months that followed the break-up, Scylla had spent several nights asleep on her own couch after having tucked an unintelligible Raelle into her bed, not quite dry tear stains evident on her cheeks. It had sucked, and also eradicated any happiness Scylla might have otherwise felt at their split.

But apparently Raelle had forgotten about all that. Or maybe not forgotten, but forgiven. Or maybe Scylla was reading into everything too much and Raelle was being kind to her ex so as to avoid a shitshow in public. Whatever it was, Scylla was extremely aware that she was spiralling, and the weekend would be a disaster if she couldn't pull her feelings in line.

* * *

She arrived at Raelle's slightly early - after checking that she looked okay far more times than she could ever tell anyone - and panic stricken. She'd been so worried about Lucy and spending the weekend with Raelle that she'd forgotten _ why  _ she was spending the weekend with Raelle.

Scylla had never met anyone's parents. Ever.

She'd never been serious enough for it with anyone except Porter before, and she'd known Porter's parents for as long as she'd known Porter himself. No one had seemed worth it, and if Scylla was being truthful, she wasn't sure she would have cared if this were anyone else's parents.

But Raelle adored her parents, Scylla had never heard her be anything but complimentary when she spoke of them. And Scylla knew how to charm people, but without her forced allure, her disposition tended to leave most people wanting. More importantly, if Scylla couldn't make the couple like her, would they end up even more concerned about their daughter? Then again, maybe if they didn't like her she'd get out of pretending to date Raelle and she could have some space. Call her a masochist, but she wasn't sure whether she wanted that or not.

Raelle took longer than usual opening her front door and when she did answer it she seemed fidgety, which confused Scylla immensely. The brunette couldn't see any reasons that Raelle would be anxious about a weekend with her own parents, unless she too had concerns about Scylla being likeable. Knowing Raelle, Scylla doubted that was the case.

"What's wrong?"

The blonde was clearly taken by surprise at the question, but she quickly smiled and said, "What? Nothing's wrong, why would something be wrong?"

Something was definitely wrong, so she pushed, "Okay seriously, what's up with you."

Still smiling, voice a little high, Raelle pulled the door as wide as it would go and nodded for Scylla to come in, "Nothing's wrong, I promise. I was writing last night, barely slept. I'm probably just over tired."

Scylla didn't know the woman had been writing again, and there was a niggling in her stomach as a voice in her head reminded her about Lucy's appearance the day before. It was suspicious timing, and as much as she'd like to say none of this was affecting her, it left a bitter taste on Scylla's tongue.

"Write anything interesting?"  _ Nonchalant, Scylla, just be cool. _

"A couple things, yeah."

_ Don't ask, don't ask, don't ask. _

_ " _ Anything related to a certain someone you were photographed with yesterday?"

Raelle was clearly hoping she wouldn't ask, if the flush creeping up her skin was anything to judge by, "Sort of. And some other stuff."

She couldn't help herself, she had to know, "Any chance I could hear some of it?"

Raelle visibly gulped, and her reticence was nearly enough to get Scylla to take the words back.

"Oh it's really not anything concrete yet, I'm sure you don't wanna listen to me blabbering."

"I do, want to listen. Please?"

Raelle obviously didn't want to play whatever she'd written the night before, shuffling from foot to foot,, which to Scylla felt like confirmation enough.

* * *

There was no universe where Raelle was about to play the mess of confusion she'd written  _ about  _ Scylla last night  _ for  _ Scylla. But that meant playing something she'd written about Lucy, and Scylla's attempts to hide her ire towards Lucy earlier had been futile. Scylla's attempts to hide her ire for Lucy had been futile for three years. But she couldn't play nothing, not with Scylla pouting at her with those eyes.

"Eh, sure. Just gimme a minute."

Scylla folded one of her legs underneath herself as she sat on the couch and Raelle headed to her room, shitting it the whole way. 

She had to sing the Lucy stuff, and hope Scylla accepted it the same way she had when Lucy and Raelle were still together. It's not like the song was a pining plea to get back with Lucy, surely it would be fine. When she got back into the living room, guitar in hand, she sat on the vacant couch and avoided making eye contact. 

Her hands shook a little before she started playing, but the familiarity of the chords let her shakiness fade as she strummed.

_ "I walked through the door with you _

_ The air was cold _

_ But something 'bout it felt like home somehow, and I _

_ Left my scarf there at your sister's house _

_ And you've still got it _

_ In your drawer, even now." _

It was patchy and still unfinished given that it had been a middle of the night thought dump, but still, it ended up not half bad. Scylla was quiet when she finished, hands toying the way they always did when she had too many thoughts racing around her mind and she didn't know what to do with them. 

She smiled, but Raelle could tell she was pissed about Lucy, that she'd likely only refrained from asking about Raelle's ex immediately upon arrival because she knew she'd be unable to hold her tongue if she got the answer she didn't want. Scylla was good at being supportive most of the time, but it became very clear she was done holding back on Lucy after their break-up, and the one barbed line about the grocery store was much more the brunette's style than openly confronting Raelle about it. It wasn't usually her style with Raelle, but it was her style nonetheless.

"It's really good, Rae."

"Really? I uh, I know it's still pretty rough, but it's something, you know?"

Scylla smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes, "Yeah. I didn't know you'd started writing again."

"Didn't wanna jinx it, but I started writing again a few weeks ago."

"That's great. Abigail must be thrilled."

"Yeah, I told her yesterday actually. Said it was the highlight of her vacation, and then Libba elbowed her and she said it again out of spite."

Scylla let one corner of her lips pull up in a smirk and said, "I'll never understand them."

"You kinda have to see them together to get it, trust me." Raelle delicately placed the guitar beside her on the sofa, wary of it falling over, "We should probably head out soon, you good to go?"

"Yeah, I think so. Anything I need to remember when I'm around your parents?"

There was, but Raelle had no doubt that Scylla could play this role just as convincingly to her parents as she had to everyone else, “No, you’ll be fine, they’re pretty laid back.”

Scylla apparently couldn’t convince herself though, because her shoulders remained ever so tense. Raelle didn’t understand how Scylla could be so aloof when the whole world was watching, but so rattled by the prospect of something so simple. She knew that the brunette had hesitations with the lies, and she’d seen her perturbed many a time - probably more than most people- but despite her loner lifestyle, Scylla was  _ charming.  _ She didn’t have the patience for most people, but when she wanted to be liked, she almost always was. And she knew it. 

Raelle stopped in front of her and slowly laid her hands on Scylla’s shoulders, giving her plenty of time to prevent the contact but ultimately facing no impediments. 

“Hey, you’re Scylla fucking Ramshorn. They’re gonna love you, and then we’re gonna drink wine all weekend and most importantly, we won’t be in LA. There’ll be no cameras or fans, just us and all the wine we can drink.” Scylla’s eyes glossed over, and Raelle was convinced she’d pushed too far, so she offered, “But if it’s freaking you out this much, it’s not too late to cancel. I’ll just tell them something came up.” 

She was still uncertain about whether this weekend would help or hinder her in figuring everything out, and her parents would probably be upset if Scylla pulled out, but it wasn’t fair of her to push the brunette into this when she was clearly twisted up about it. 

Scylla smiled then, resolve all over her face as she shook her head out, “No, no we’re going, I’ll get over it, just give me a minute.”

Raelle stared at her for a moment longer, looking for any sign the brunette was about to change her mind, but Scylla seemed sure in her decision, "Sure, I’ll go grab the bags and put them in the car.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I don't know if I actually see Raelle as someone who would write a TS song, but I needed something that was definitely a goodbye but still had a lot of hurt, and also my head is filled it the brim with TS so when I needed a song it was my first instinct


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm late again and I'm sorry, things just keep getting in the way

Scylla had calmed down after she took her minute, and the entire journey to meet Raelle’s parents- who had left that morning to enjoy some time out of the city before the girls joined them- was spent in their usual easy companionship. But if anything, that normalcy just brought all of Raelle's questions to the forefront of her mind.

She didn't like the idea of Lucy being right, even though it didn't change anything between them now, Raelle would like to believe that she isn’t so oblivious that she'd miss something like this. 

Maybe the problem was that Scylla was Scylla Ramshorn, and anything Raelle had felt at meeting her was written off as an embarrassing throwback to her childhood as opposed to something real. Or maybe she hadn't wanted it to be real, perhaps it was easier to let go of what was burgeoning than face the reality that Lucy mightn't be the one.

Whatever it was, Raelle knew herself well enough to admit that even if she had faced what she may or may not have felt back then, even if she and Scylla had both been single, even if there had been no reason not to ask Scylla out, Raelle never would have. Regardless of whether or not Scylla was with Porter, Scylla was still _Scylla._ And Raelle was usually pretty confident, but Scylla was practically perfect, and Realle three years ago wouldn't have thought she had a shot. 

Right _now_ Raelle didn't think she had a shot. Not to mention that she was convinced there was still something going on with Porter. No, if at the end of all of this Raelle realised Lucy had been right, then there would just be one more person for her to get over.

They were nearing the farmhouse they would be staying at for the weekend when Raelle realised Scylla had been quiet for a while, and when she chanced looking over at her, the brunette's head was leant against the window, eyes fallen shut. She wasn't sure if Scylla had dozed off or if she was just resting her eyes, but either way, she looked unfairly pretty. 

Eyes back on the road, Raelle pulled into the drive and parked next to her parents pick-up. Evidently Scylla had been sleeping. She still hadn't moved, and Raelle hated being that creep but she couldn't help staring at the sleeping woman. Why did Lucy have to put this in her head? Raelle couldn't figure out if she actually had any feelings or if she was overthinking everything purely because she'd been told she had feelings.

"Scyl? Scylla, wake up." No response. 

She was hesitant to touch a sleeping Scylla, even if it was just to wake her up, but the woman hadn't woken to Raelle's calls which left the blonde only one option. She reached out gently, hand falling to Scylla’s shoulder so tentatively that the touch almost wasn’t there.

Scylla blinked awake slowly, eyes taking a moment to realise where she was, and then laid her own hand over Raelle's and squeezed, "We here?"

"Yeah, it's pretty. You feeling okay, sleeping beauty?"

The sleepy smile was adorable, but Raelle pushed that to the back of her mind to be dealt with later, "Because I fell asleep or because I'm about to meet your parents?"

"I meant the parents, but is there a reason you took a nap at 5pm?"

Scylla glanced down at their hands, still resting on the woman's shoulder, and back up, "I haven't been sleeping great, it's probably just work stress. And I am still a little nervous about your parents, but that's just because I don't want to make them even _more_ worried about you. I'll be fine."

"You sure you don't wanna make a run for it?"

Scylla chuckled and shook her head "I'm sure I'll survive."

"Okay then, let's go." 

They got out of the car and Realle held her hand out for the brunette, who interlaced their fingers and let Raelle pull her towards the door. Her parents opened the door before they even got to it, and Raelle had the feeling they'd been watching out the window from the moment the fake couple had parked. 

"You're finally here."

Raelle's mother approached her with her arms open, and Raelle reluctantly let go of Scylla's hand as she was engulfed, "Mama, you saw me last night, no need for the dramatics."

"Yeah but we don't really care about seeing _you_ kiddo, we wanted to see this young woman, an' you know it."

"Love you too, pops." Raelle rolled her eyes and then her and Scylla followed her parents through the front door and into the kitchen, hands clasped loosely together again. Scylla had slipped into her people mask, not false, and not the aloof visage she wore in public, but her nerves had been hidden somewhere in the recess of her mind. A polite smile had taken place on her face 

When they came to a stop, Raelle took a moment to gather her thoughts away from the warmth of Scylla's hand and back to the people in the room.

"Oh, uh, Scylla, these are my parents. Mom, pops, this is Scylla."

"It's lovely to finally meet you sweetheart, this one's always talking about you." No, no, no. This conversation needed to end before it could begin, there was no way they could start this so soon. Before Raelle could change the subject, Scylla reached out to shake both her parents' hands and smiled warmly, eyes twinkling mischievously, "Is that so?"

"Oh, like you wouldn' believe. And don;t even get me started on how cute she was runnin' round as a teenager, Scylla Ramshorn this, Scylla Ramshorn that. An' then she really thought we didn' know she liked women?" The smile on her father's face was genuine, and it was clearly just that he'd forgotten he wasn't supposed to bring that up, but Raelle had really hoped they'd get more than 5 minutes into this weekend without that particular topic coming up.

"Hey guys, wanna show us where we're stayin' so I can get the bags?" She prayed that the brunette wouldn't bring up the comments her father had made, but when she looked over at the woman, there was something in her eyes that implied they'd be circling back to this conversation later.

"Of course honey, it's just this way, second door on the left." Her mother pushed the door open and then stood back. The room was beautiful and spacious, and there was a gorgeous four poster bed snug against the wall. An ajar white door on the other side of the room led into an ensuite and large windows lined the wall directly opposite Raelle, casting a stunning natural glow throughout the room.

Her mother stood back, "Well, we'll let you two get settled and I'll start on some dinner. You don't have any allergies or nothing I should know about, do you Scylla?"

"Oh, no Mrs Collar, I'll eat pretty much anything." 

"No no, none of that now, it's just Willa, dear." 

Scylla nodded cheerily, and then Willa headed back the way they'd come. Not wanting to give the brunette the chance to ask about her father's earlier words, Raelle faced the woman, free hand on her chest and pitched her voice up unusually high, “Oh, no Mrs Collar,” the hand and her voice dropped, replaced by a grin, “You suck up.”

The brunette knew what she was doing, but had apparently decided to let it slide, “I don’t sound like that. And I am _supposed_ to be playing the perfect little girlfriend, aren’t I.” The words might have been more effective if they hadn’t finished with a yawn that was clearly outside of Scylla’s control, as it was they lacked her usual snark.

"Hey, are you still tired? You can take a quick nap before dinner if you want, my folks won't mind. I can grab the bags and then leave you in peace."

“I might take you up on that, but are you sure they won't think I'm being rude?"

Raelle shrugged her shoulders, "Nah, they know you've been working all week. I'll wake you up in like an hour? Dinner should be ready by then."

"Sounds great. Thanks, Rae." 

She turned to go to the car before realising she'd never let go of Scylla's hand. They smiled at each other, laughing a little at the mistake, and then let go of each other to move their separate ways.

The two hadn't brought that much stuff since they were only there for two nights, so Raelle was able to get it all in one go, reentering the room after hearing Scylla's shout in response to her knock. Scylla was in the en suite, visible through the still ajar door, and not wearing any trousers. Her hair had been tossed into a haphazard pony tail and she was leant over in the process of throwing water in her face, which Raelle was thankful for since it meant she missed both Raelle staring at her ass and the blush that was surely spread across the blonde's cheeks.

She tore her gaze away eventually, reminding herself that loitering in a room and staring was weird, then cleared her throat, "Need anything else before I go?"

The brunette turned, eyes meeting Raelle's, "No I'm all good."

After leaving Scylla to sleep, Raelle returned to the kitchen. Once she’d explained Scylla’s absence she was immediately roped into helping her mother cook. They used to do this almost every day, working around each other perfectly in sync. She’d missed it. She’d missed them. It made the lies feel worse. 

“She’s pretty.”

Rolling her eyes at the obvious statement, Raelle kept her voice flat, “You knew what she looked like mama, she’s always been pretty.”

“Yeah, but cameras don’t always tell the truth. And outside of her movies, I’ve never seen a photo of her smiling. It’s pretty. No wonder she’s been your favourite thing to talk about for years.” Her parents were always like this, they had a good relationship with each other and with her, and they loved to tease her relentlessly.

She shook her head, but there was still an amused smile on her face, “She is _not_ my favorite thing to talk about. Or well, maybe she is now, but she hasn’t always been. And I thought you agreed not to bring up the teenage thing pops.”

Her stare made her father raise his hands up, “It was an accident, okay? And what’s it matter if your girlfriend knows you had a crush on her as a kid, it’s not like she doesn’t know you think she’s pretty Rae.”

“It’s just still a little new, okay? I don’t want to scare her off. Speaking of, please be nice. She’s really nervous.”

“When are we not nice? And I don’t think you have to worry about scaring her off kid. That pretty smile, it’s there because of you.” Her mother bumped their hips together as she said it, and Raelle ducked her head. Her cheeks were warming, and she wrestled with thoughts of whether Scylla could ever really look at her like that, or if it was all acting. 

It was a dangerous road, wishing Scylla would look at her like that when there was no one around to see, but it was one she wandered down anyway. Surely that meant that Lucy had been partially right. She’d always loved it when Scylla smiled at her - her real smile instead of the one she flashed for the screen -it made her feel like she got to see some part of Scylla that the woman usually hid away. Made her feel special. Made her do stupid things just to get a glimpse of it.

* * *

Dinner had gone well. Scylla had Raelle’s parents wrapped around her finger, which didn’t surprise Raelle at all. She was good at this; she could bend the truth just enough to make innocuous moments of their friendship seem like the most romantic of occasions. It had Raelle doubting her own memories -which was justified, given that she’d been sober so rarely in them- and fed the voices in her head. 

Scylla had been out of it again when she’d gone to wake her, and when Raelle had laid a hand against her cheek to rouse her from sleep, the brunette had leaned into it without waking. It had taken several attempts to actually get the woman conscious, and when she succeeded, Scylla had smiled before getting out of bed in that stupid tanktop and her panties and pranced around asking about what Raelle had been upto, as if Raelle was able to keep up a conversation while the view was so distracting. They’d strolled into the kitchen again to raised eyebrows from her parents. With Scylla’s chatting and her desire to look perfect for dinner, they’d taken their time getting ready, and at her parents’ insinuation her cheeks flushed again. Scylla had just smiled. 

The pair cleaned up after dinner, talking quietly between themselves while Raelle’s parents put on music and started dancing behind them. It was cute, and Scylla got this glint in her eyes everytime she spotted them, so evidently she agreed. When they finished tidying, Scylla’s arms reached around her from behind, and when she whispered against Raelle’s ear the blonde struggled not to shiver, “Want to join in?” 

Stupid fucking wine. She’d only had two glasses with dinner - none of them wanted a hangover tomorrow when they were supposed to be wine tasting - but either way it was making her less able to control herself.

She smiled, enjoying the feeling, and turned in the arms around her, “Sure.”

It was comfortable. None of them were really dancing, Scylla was probably the only one with any actual ability to dance, but the swaying was soothing. It let Raelle stop thinking for the first time since seeing Lucy, and without her brain running at high speed she could just feel. Feel Scylla’s arms, gentle even in their sure hold. Feel her chest pressed against Scylla’s. Feel the way Scylla’s thumb brushed back and forth on her waist. 

Raelle wanted to kiss her. 

It had been weeks since the last time they’d staged a kiss, there had been no need since. But Raelle wanted to. Wanted it more than she wanted the air in her lungs, and even knowing she shouldn't, knowing she was probably only letting herself do this because of the wine, she couldn't ignore the pull. 

Scylla’s cheek was pressed against hers and her back was to Raelle’s parents, so it wasn’t difficult to pull back an inch and meet the brunette’s eyes with a nod towards the couple behind them. She moved forward slowly so that Scylla had time to stop her if she wanted to, but instead she leant in and met Raelle half way.

It was slow, like they had all the time in the world. In the low light of the kitchen, it felt like they did. They didn’t stop swaying, but Scylla’s hand came up to delicately cup her cheek and the blonde only managed to hold back the appreciative hum in her throat because her parents were across the room. Her blood was singing, the same way it had every other time they'd kissed. She shouldn't have brushed it off as bein touch starved. She should've known this was about Scylla. They continued like that for a few minutes, lazy lips moving against each other as Raelle felt everything else fade away, until the blonde pulled back slowly. She didn't want to, but it felt wrong to take what she wanted under the guise of pretending. 

Returning her face to rest against Scylla’s cheek in the hopes that the brunette wouldn’t read her dazed expression, Raelle’s words came out a little shaky, “Sorry. My parents were staring at us.”

Scylla just tightened her arms around Raelle’s waist and kept swaying.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating change guys

The first thing that strikes Scylla as she feels herself rousing from sleep is that she’s actually well-rested for once, and that she can’t recall waking up at all in the middle of the night. She lets her eyes stay shut for a while, having no sense of urgency to open them and end her cosy reprieve. She’s just warm enough, and the arms encircling her are secure without being so tight that she feels claustrophobic in them. She stays there for longer than is probably reasonable before she realises what’s happened. 

When she does realise where she is, she freezes, afraid of stirring the blonde whose legs are intertwined with her own and terrified of the pull in her gut that’s telling her to cuddle deeper into Raelle’s chest.

She doesn’t do this. 

But she’s comfortable. There’s a pleasant thrum throughout her body that’s egged on by the soft skin pressed to hers. The light thump of Raelle’s heart beneath her ear is soothing and steadfastly lulling her back towards sleep.

She wants to do this. 

Instead, she squirms out of the blonde’s arms as subtly as she can, hoping that Raelle’s sleep is as deep as it usually is so that she can escape before the woman ever even knows Scylla has been clinging to her like a baby. She shivers as the cool air of the room hits her skin, having slept in only a tanktop and shorts that barely counted.

It had been fun, seeing Raelle flustered at her bare skin. Being in various states of undress around people was something Scylla had gotten so used to; shared rooms at boarding school, quick changes for theatre pieces and being prodded by wardrobe people was her normal. She liked her privacy, but she wasn’t shy about her body. She was almost completely desensitised to it. And Raelle wasn’t some blushing virgin - Scylla knew she’d seen her fair share of naked women - but nonetheless she’d blushed that day weeks ago when Scylla had changed without thinking about it.

And Scylla had liked it, so she’d done it again the next time she stayed. 

Even if Raelle wasn’t ever going to feel the same, Scylla at least had this. So she’d taken her time yesterday, getting dressed and teasing and being a little bit selfish. It wasn’t like she didn’t sleep in as little as possible anyway, so she figured it was harmless. And she needed the pick me up.

She shrugged on a hoodie and shuffled quietly towards the kitchen in search of tea, which she found quickly. She leant on the counter in the middle of the kitchen, hands firmly wrapped around the mug to steal its heat, and pondered how long she could keep this up. 

She needed to tell Porter, and she needed to ask for some space from Raelle, but neither of those things were things she knew how to do. It felt like there was a battering ram in her chest though, getting closer and closer to its victory everytime Raelle kissed her, or smiled at her, or did so much as look at her. 

Last night had been too intimate. The quiet whispers and the swaying and the unhurried way they’d kissed. It felt real. Like the universe was paying her back tenfold for teasing Raelle. A morsel in the face of her starvation. She felt her eyes watering when her mind returned to the peace she’d felt before coming to her senses that morning, but hid any evidence of it at the sound of footsteps approaching. It wasn’t Raelle, she could tell from the sound, so she wasn’t surprised when Willa rounded the corner and smiled at her. 

“Hey honey, you’re up early.”

Ridding herself of her gloom, Scylla plastered a smile on her face and said, “Early riser. I rarely sleep past dawn.” 

Willa moved around the room, making a beeline for the coffee machine, “I’m the same, but I’m not completely functional until I get the good stuff.”

Scylla felt herself grinning more genuinely at Willa’s words, “Like mother, like daughter I guess.”

“Oh, I’m not quite bad without caffeine as that monster is, but it is probably me she gets the morning grumpiness from.” She reached for the loaf that was sitting on the counter and then looked to Scylla, “Have you eaten?”

“Oh, no. My stomach’s a little jumpy this early, I’m good.” She usually had no issues with eating as soon as she woke up, but a lot of things that she usually had no problem with were becoming troublesome recently. 

Willa lathered peanut butter and jam on her toast - another habit Raelle shared with her mother- and started walking towards the table, gesturing for Scylla to join her. The farmhouse was open plan, with the kitchen opening into a dining room and from there onto a spacious living room, with windows lining the walls and letting light flow through each room. 

“She seems better.”

Scylla knew she meant Raelle, and having grown fond of Willa in the hours she’d known her she felt a stab of guilt at lying to Raelle’s mother, “What do you mean?”

Willa didn’t buy it, crooking her head and leveling Scylla with a stare, “You were there for the break-up Scylla, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. She was a mess. I know we weren’t around much, but it was obvious she was losing it. She stopped calling as much, and then when she did call there weren’t any jokes, there was nothing that makes Raelle, _ Raelle _ . And that didn’t really change until a few months ago. Sure, she wasn’t nearly as bad, but she was still a ghost.”

“She is.” Scylla looked at her mug and realized she wasn’t being clear, “Doing better, I mean.”

Willa looked at her again then, more serious than Scylla had seen her yet, “Lucy really hurt her. And I don’t know if she could take something like that again. So if you’re not in this, if this is just some pitstop on the way to wherever you’re headed, then I need you to end it, Scylla. Sooner rather than later. She gives too much of herself to people, and it’s amazing, it’s one of the best things about her, but sometimes people take too much. Understood?”

“I’m not… Raelle’s not,” Scylla stopped, trying to filter her thoughts into something cohesive.

There was no way to not lie. She couldn’t promise that she was in this, because there wasn’t anything to be in. And she couldn’t say she’d end things because she’d promised Raelle she could play her part. She took in a deep breath before lying as little as possible.

“I’m not going to hurt her. I mean, not in the way you mean. I can’t promise I'll never hurt her any more than you can promise you’ve never hurt Edwin. But Raelle isn’t some pitstop for me. She’s it. So you don’t need to worry about her getting her heartbroken, okay?”

_ My heart is a completely different story. _

Willa smiled again, the somber expression fading jarringly fast and replaced with warmth, “Good. Wouldn’t want her to have to get over you twice.”

Scylla’s blood turned to ice in her veins, “Twice?”

Twice implied that at some stage, Raelle had had feelings for Scylla. Twice implied Scylla had missed her window. 

“Oh. I’m not supposed to talk about that,” the look of guilt was only there for a flash, before Willa continued, “But what harm could it really do now?” 

She took a sip of her coffee as Scylla stared on, waiting avidly despite also being terrified, “She had a crush on you when she was like, 12, I think? It was adorable, you were all she talked about for nearly two years. She was completely obsessed with that show of yours, pretended it wasn’t just you she was staring at-”

They must have missed the footsteps coming down the hall, because the blonde walked in slowly and Willa froze mid sentence. Both women waited for Raelle to show some sign of anger, but it didn’t come. The blonde just smiled sleepily and moved towards the coffee machine exactly as Willa had. 

“What are you doing up so early, honey?”

Raelle settled at the table beside Scylla with her own coffee in hand and replied to her mother, “Bed was cold, and I could smell the coffee from down the hall. What were you guys chatting about?”

“Just about Scylla's new project. She's a very busy woman, it's good of her to take the time out to come with us." Well, Willa was certainly better at lying than her daughter was.

Raelle bumped their shoulders together and smiled, "Yeah, you must be itching for that break, huh?"

"Definitely. I mean, I'm excited about this project, but I'd also be really excited about a month with no commitments."

* * *

They'd been to one vineyard already and Scylla was losing it. Raelle was playing her part perfectly, and it was unbearably hard to remember that this was fake. She didn't know if she could last another day doing this, didn't know that she could make it through  _ this  _ day. 

"Hey, I'm going to head to the ladies, I won't be long okay?"

She was telling Porter. She had to tell someone, and if it wasn't Porter, she feared the words would tumble out to the blonde. She checked all the stalls as soon as she arrived - being extra careful for fear of making tabloid headlines - and then dialled the only number she knew by heart.

"Scyl? Shouldn't you be off drinking wine by now?"

"Tasting, we're wine  _ tasting _ . And I'm too worked up to do that because all I can think about is how much I wish all of this was real." She stopped to catch her breath again, "I fucked up Porter. You were right."

He didn't reply for a moment, and Scylla was afraid he'd hung up or lost signal, but then he said, "You can do this. Just get through the weekend and then we'll deal with it, I promise."

"I don't know if I can, Porter. I've been pretending for too long, and now it feels like it's all going to burst out."

"If you really don't think you can do it, you know I'll drive down there right now. But is that really what you want? I mean, have you considered talking to her?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Her parents are here, it's not exactly the right time to bring up my years long infatuation, is it?"

"Okay, so what do  _ you _ want to do, Scylla? I can be there in less than an hour."

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, "No. No, you're right. I can make it through the weekend, and then we can deal with it after."

"Okay."

"Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry I freaked out."

"Don't be. And for what it's worth, I don't think it's one-sided Scylla."

She puffed a laugh, "Thanks. That doesn't help at all. I'll see you tomorrow night, yeah?"

His voice was the same gentle bandaid it had been every time he'd let her fall apart, and she was grateful that even if all of this blew up, she could count on having Porter at home to help her pull it back together, "I'll be at your place with Reese's when you get home."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

She ended the call and turned around. The body by the door made her jump, and then she realised it was Raelle and an entirely different jolt of fear tore through her.

"Hey, what's up?"

"You were gone a while, thought I'd check if everything was okay." She hadn't seen Raelle this tense in weeks. It worried her. The blonde looked to the floor.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Porter called, and I was worried it was work stuff so I didn't want to ignore it."

"Didn't sound like work stuff." Fuck.

"How much did you hear?"

"Not a lot. Just the end." That was so vague, and it really didn't tell the brunette what she'd wanted to know. She tried her best to save the situation, hopefully she could convince the blonde it was nothing, even if she had heard something suspicious.

"It  _ was _ work stuff, there was just some other stuff we talked about after. You ready to get back?"

The blonde didn't say anything, just reached out her hand, but she looked less enthused by the action than she had all day.

* * *

After visiting three vineyards and stopping in town for dinner, Scylla was exhausted. The weird atmosphere that settled after Raelle heard her on the phone had lifted relatively quickly, and now everyone was decently tipsy, though the food and the fact that they'd spaced out the drinking had lessened her inebriation. Raelle's parents wanted to stay out for a little longer, explore the town and take a walk in the warm night air.

They'd asked whether the girls wanted to join them but Raelle had been on the same page as Scylla and they'd cited their reasons before getting a cab back to the farmhouse. The whole day had been difficult for Scylla, the constant light banter, the hand holding, the three times that Raelle had pressed a kiss to her cheek. It was a lot.

They stumbled through the door, equally tipsy and laughing at Raelle's fumbled attempts to unlock the door, and toed their shoes off into a messy pile. 

"Pinot and pyjamas?"

It was a precarious situation. Neither of them was sober, and Scylla had been teetering on the edge all day from their pretending. But Scylla wanted to say yes. Soon, she’d be stuck at work late and tied up on weekends. There wouldn’t be time for seeing Raelle. And even if there was, she told herself that she’d start getting over her feelings once she started work again. This might be one of the last nights she got to spend with Raelle for a long time. Plus, the blonde had that smile on her face, and Scylla was a sucker for it.

“Sounds great.”

“Cool, I’ll dig out the wine and you get changed.” Despite her worries and her tired state, Scylla found her spirits lifting at the fact that Raelle was sending her to change first. It was a little disappointing that she wouldn't get the chance to see Raelle flushed tonight, but she supposed she’d settle for the glow on the blonde’s cheeks from the wine. 

Scylla changed back into the same tanktop and shorts and opened the bedroom door to a Raelle who had obviously been about to knock. She felt satisfaction rush through her when Raelle looked her up and down, ducking her head afterwards, “Wine’s open, I’ll uh, meet you in a minute.”

She walked through the door, brushing her hand across Raelle’s shoulder as she did, and made her way to the kitchen. Raelle had left the wine and two glasses sitting on the dining room table, so the brunette sat in the chair nearest the kitchen and decided to wait on the blonde instead of starting without her. Sighing, she lifted the bottle from the table and poured the two glasses. 

Raelle came back in a loose sleeveless shirt that made Scylla’s fingers itch to reach out. It wasn’t fair, having to keep her resolve when she knew what those arms felt like wrapped around her. At least her shorts had been swapped out for loose sweatpants.

Half an hour- and half a bottle - later, the two had abandoned the dining room table, leaving the chairs askew. They were leaning on opposite sides of the central kitchen counter, debating the ridiculousness of spongebob living in a pineapple. Naturally, Raelle saw no problems with it. Scylla didn’t agree, but the music in the background changed to one of the slower songs from the previous night halfway through her rant and Raelle -presumably in an attempt to distract Scylla from her inevitable victory - rounded the counter and took Scylla’s hands in her own. Raelle led them to the inbetween of the rooms and Scylla let her pull her in despite her confusion. 

And then they were swaying again, and there was a tightness in her stomach that made her incredibly aware of their closeness. It was a stupid love song, and she was convinced the universe was fucking with her on purpose, but she let herself enjoy the press of Raelle against her regardless. Boundaries were hard to listen to when they were self-enforced, and the wine made it all too easy to ignore the logical part of her brain. 

The song ended after what felt like an eternity, and Raelle pulled her face back exactly as she had the night before, except this time her gaze caught Scylla’s eyes and stayed there. They stopped moving, Scylla meeting the blonde’s gaze but not understanding what was happening. Her breathing was heavier than it should’ve been from their swaying, and Scylla felt her eyes drop to Raelle’s lips without having any ability to control it. When she glanced back up to meet the blonde’s eyes again, they were closer, and before she could second guess anything, her lips were on Raelle’s.

She couldn’t say which of them had started this, but she was helpless to stop it. It started chaste. Tentative. Testing. It didn’t stay that way. Her hands flew up to Raelle’s shoulders, pulling the woman closer as the singer tightened her hold on Scylla’s hips. Raelle’s mouth was getting more and more demanding by the second, and Scylla couldn’t hear that little voice in the back of her head telling her it was a bad idea anymore, but she did hear the groan that left her lips as the blonde slipped her tongue past them, and if Raelle hadn’t had such a tight hold on her hips, her legs might have given out. Raelle started walking her backwards towards the table they’d vacated earlier until Scylla bumped into it, and she didn’t need any prompting to lift herself onto it, Raelle’s body slotting into the space between her legs

She had no clue how she’d gotten here, but she’d been craving something like this ever since the damn premiere and that had been  _ weeks _ ago, so she couldn’t find it in her to put a stop to it. Raelle’s lips drifted to her neck, nipping and letting her tongue soothe the sting. The whimper fell out accidentally, but having her lips free helped Scylla muster the words she knew risked the pleasure humming through her, “Rae… Rae, what are we doing?”

“Don’t know.” Raelle’s mouth moved higher on her neck, placing an open mouth kiss that made Scylla's head tip back, then paused without moving away, “Do you want to stop?”

She knew she should. Knew she should pull back before they did any damage that they couldn’t come back from. But she couldn’t say that, not when she was getting what she’d wanted for three goddamn years. Not with Raelle’s breath against her neck. She grabbed Raelle’s jaw in her good hand and brought their lips back together. 

She'd committed now, so she might as well enjoy herself. One of the hands on her hips wandered upwards, slipping under her tank top and nudging it up as it explored. It felt good; after over a month of abstinence, Scylla was desperate for some kind of touch, and the fact that it was Raelle made it even more satisfying.

Scylla drew the blonde closer with her legs and let her fingers tangle in Raelle's hair, her lungs screaming at her to breathe but she chose to ignore them a little longer. Her thin top bunched up when Raelle’s hand moved higher, leaving Scylla keening into the blonde’s mouth as the woman palmed her breast. 

Raelle drew her mouth away, earning another whimper, and then nudged Scylla's shoulder until her back was flat on the table. Dipped her head, Raelle's mouth caught a pert nipple and toyed with it while she deftly thumbed the other. It was everything Scylla had wanted since they'd met. It was more.

Her hips bucked, trying to find purchase, and she felt the blonde chuckle as she moved her mouth to the other breast, hand teasingly tracing along Scylla's stomach. She was so wet, she could feel it, and if this were any other situation she'd probably be a little embarrassed, but she didn't have it in her to care. Again, she tried to roll her hips, but Raelle's hand held her hip down.

"Please, Rae. I need… Please."

The blonde smirked down at her before meeting her lips again, slower this time than before. The change of pace distracted Scylla so much that she nearly missed the hand slipping past the waistband of her shorts. Nearly.

They both gasped when Raelle traced a testing finger through her folds, and then the blonde's mouth was next to her ear. Scylla didn't need to see Raelle's face, she could hear the smirk in the blonde's voice, "God, you're so fucking wet."

"So do something about it."

Raelle didn't need to be told twice, nipping Scylla's ear and pushing a finger in without preamble. Scylla tightened the hold she had in Raelle's hair, sighing in relief at finally having Raelle's hands where she wanted them. 

She'd imagined this so many times, more times than was reasonable to fantasise about being fucked by your friend. And yet she was in no way prepared for it actually happening. She didn't know what to focus on. The fingers moving inside of her (a second finger having quickly joined the first), the mouth that had returned to her chest, the intoxicating smell that was pure Raelle, all around her.

There was absolutely no sign of the blushing blonde who'd averted her gaze as Scylla changed, but Scylla knew the flush Raelle would be wearing underneath her later would be so much better.

God forbid Raelle's parents walk in the door to them like this: Scylla laid out on the dinner table, tanktop pushed up above her breasts and their daughter's hand stroking the brunette closer and closer to orgasm. Not to mention the sounds filling the open space. It should have put a damper on it all, but Scylla didn't have any ability to think clearly anymore, and with the perfect pressure Raelle's was putting on her clit, she was positive she'd be pushed past her tipping point soon. 

She knew the angle must have been a nightmare, but Raelle made it work. The hand not gripping Raelle's hair was fisting her top, and Scylla recaptured her lips barely a second before the blonde brushed her clit just right and sent her soaring over the edge. 

Raelle coaxed her through it, their mouths breathing air back and forth more than truly kissing. When she removed her hand from Scylla's underwear the brunette grabbed her wrist, pulling it eagerly to her mouth and moaning again at the taste of herself coating dexterous fingers. Raelle groaned too, prompting Scylla's eyes to seek her out, and then the actress released the fingers with a pop and sat up, "Bedroom. Now."


End file.
